The Director of the University of the South Pacific (USP) Emalus Campus, Dr Andrew McKenzie, believes that a stable and effective contract with the Vanuatu government is the way forward to avoid the ongoing internet problem at the campus.
USP’s connection was disrupted Monday, raising grave concern for the regional institution in the country, particularly for student accessibility.
Dr McKenzie said that they have to provide essential service for the students. With more internet bandwidth coming into the country through Interchange Limited (ICL), he said that it is time to move forward.
“What we need is for the authority responsible to come up with a solution to assist the campus. USP is currently working on addressing a solution to resolve the issue. We don’t have any contracts with the government. Have approached for over a year, however no response since then.
“We have a contract with the ICL through Vodafone, however, we hope the government can assist in providing an internet contract to highlight the challenges students face.
“There has been no agreement for USP to sign and we have been shut down without explanation.
He commented that the matter had seen students subscribing to the Digicel and Vodafone internet package services for educational purposes and stated that they are apologetic for the issue, which is disappointing and unfair. Regarding government assistance, McKenzie commented that they need to settle several agreements to access bandwidths however no effective response was clear towards a suitable agreement.
The issue saw students and parents raising their frustrations via social media. The matter has caused instability not only between the internet providers but the campus as well.