Page 16 - Islands Business March 2024

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meets industry standards before they accredit the tertiary
institutions to teach the courses.
“For example, in accounting, the regulator is the Fiji
Vice Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia is welcomed back to
Fiji in February 2023. Institute of Accountants and for lawyers it’s the Fiji Law
Society. The trainer will only train by the regulating
- “Many of the questions that you ask in relation to
staff are being discussed with the respective unions authority’s curriculum.”
and it is inappropriate for me to make comments Islands Business sent questions to Ahluwalia on whether
through the media.”
USP had carried out any research or investigation into the
enrolment gap, and whether there are internal checks in
place to ensure the higher education programs they teach are
meeting industry standards.
In a press release in November 2023, the Council said the
Business another FJ$20m will be paid by July end, and “so decline in student numbers was the main cause of USP’s
progressively we want to clear the rest of the amount owing problems, and management’s plans to mitigate them were
(FJ$106.2m).” in the 2024 Annual Plan. Those plans included evaluation
Prasad said they had also recommenced the regular yearly of courses to meet the needs of stakeholders, legal action
grant of FJ$30m to USP, in addition to scholarship funding for against students owing unpaid fees, and collection of fee
Fiji students studying at USP. payments in advance from next year.
While USP’s financial situation may be improving, concern The Annual Plan says retention rates from 2016 to 2022 fell
surrounds the decline in student enrolments - down 30% in the by 9% from 77% in 2016 to 67% in 2022.
last three years (by almost 5,000 students), according to the “Completion rates show a more disturbing trend,” the
University’s 2024 Annual Plan. document said, pointing to a drop from around 37% in 2015 to
In response to our questions, Ahluwalia referred us to a 18% in 2021.
press release on the outcomes of last November’s Council In contrast, New Zealand Ministry of Education figures
meeting, which quoted him as saying the University was show the completion rate for their universities at 89% in
“delivering its priorities successfully against the backdrop of 2020, dropping to 86% in 2022. The completion rate for Maori
declining enrolment numbers and financial constraints.” students in 2022 was around 75%, and for Pacific Islanders
Prasad told Islands Business that after the COVID-19-induced around 60%.
drop in numbers and students switching to online mode, The drop in student enrolments is having a direct impact
recovery will take some time. on collecting tuition fees. The 2024 Annual Plan states that
Former Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the USP Council, now income from tuition fees have decreased by 18% in the last
President of the Republic of Marshall Islands, Dr Hilda Heine, three years and is projected to make up only 34% of total
said in an interview with Islands Business in her office in the revenue this year.
Marshalls that COVID-19 created the same problems at USP In 2022, the losses in tuition income totaled FJ$11m (a 5%
that institutions in Australia, New Zealand and the United drop from 2021).
States were experiencing. Meanwhile, FNU only recorded a 1% decline the same year,
But, she noted that the drop in numbers was mainly while tuition income as a proportion of its total revenue is at
because a large number of students from Fiji were not able to 44%.
get scholarships. Dr Ganesh Chand told Islands Business that revenue from
“That impacted the student enrolment together with tuition has never been sufficient to cover all the costs for any
COVID, but the fact that USP continued to survive, regardless university in Fiji.
of the many issues it faced during the last three years, is a “That’s why the regional governments are required to pay a
testament to the fact that it’s a strong institution that needs grant.”
to be cared for and supported.” But, Chand says, the grants come with an expectation from
Dr Ganesh Chand, a former USP academic, Vice Chancellor taxpayers who are footing the bill.
of the Fiji National University (FNU) and Solomon Islands “All taxpayers want the operations of every institution
National University, says the numbers may reflect a gap where our money goes to be efficient…We want an efficient
between what the University is teaching and what the USP, we want an efficient FNU, and all the other entities.
industry and workplace expect. “Efficiency means ensuring least cost for the activity
Chand, who pioneered the setting up of vocational programs undertaken, but when you try to increase efficiency, there
at FNU when he was appointed the first VC in 2010 and is now will be grievances because people will be required to do more
Chair of the Council of Pacific Polytech, said the responsibility for the same salary they are being paid.”
to provide quality education lies with the tertiary institutions Last year, the coalition government wiped off FJ$650m
and the Higher Education Commission Fiji (HECF), which owed by 53,725 students and allocated a further FJ$148.3m
regulates the curriculum offered by universities in Fiji. to fund the 20,000 Fiji students currently studying at USP.
Chand says the role of the HECF is to ensure the curriculum

16 Islands Business, March 2024