USP

The Prosecution’s second witness, Kuliniasi Saumi, revealed this when he gave evidence in the case against former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho.

Bainimarama is charged with a count of attempting to pervert the course of justice, while Qiliho is charged with a count of abuse of office.

The charges stem from a complaint filed by the university in July 2019 pertaining to the conduct of former staff members.

The initiative is focused on all first-year students – local and regional students joining the University in 2023. 

Commencing January 9, future USP students will have the opportunity to experience what tertiary education is like for the next five weeks. 

This one-of-a-kind initiative provides a free online orientation for provisional and potential first-year students to learn more about USP and get a “feel” of university life.

Semester Zero is a timely initiative offered only by USP for her students and will be hosted on USP’s Moodle platform. 

Fifty-six percent of the graduates were women and 34% were awarded undergraduate degrees.

Fifty percent of students graduated from Pacific TAFE programmes.

This graduation saw 53 students graduating in Postgraduate programmes, of which 21 students received Master’s qualifications.

In his address at the ceremony, USP Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia said although COVID-19 was a deterrent to students completing their studies on time, the numbers signified a strong desire to further education.

The Government has failed to pay its obligatory grant to the university for the past three years, and now owes the USP more than $60 million Fijian dollars.

The group says Fiji benefits hugely from the USP.

They say for every dollar invested by the Government the return to the Fiji economy is eight dollars from taxes, rents, medical spending, utilities, food and other good, and transport.

The Ministry of Education confirmed that the students were last Saturday.

This is the second repatriation of students coming in from Fiji, with the first taking place last month.

The students were quarantined at Ramada Resort in Nadi before departing Fiji.

Those returning are confirmed to be Vanuatu government scholarship students, Vanuatu National Provident Fund students as well as private scholarship students.

This is the last repatriation flight of students for the year, with the next taking place next year.

This week the Fijian Government announced it wouldn't pay its multi-million grant to the university while the current vice chancellor Pal Ahluwalia remained at his post.

It has called for another investigation after an earlier one revealed significant abuses by the former Vice Chancellor, Rajesh Chandra, who is believed to have close links with the Fiji Government.

The Fiji Government earlier this year deported Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, after accusing them of immigration breaches.

USP started strong in the game after they scored in the first half and assembled their defence wall that stopped the Police from scoring a try.

Police created few opportunities to earn a try however USP kept steady to overcome the Police attacking strategies.

USP did not make a mistake as it continued to lift its heads up until the final whistle.

The new champions walked away with VT35,000 plus a gift voucher and Police came in second and with  VT20,000.

Tanvasako finished in third place and walked away with VT10,000.

The final showdown will be between USP and Police.

Police has remained undefeated in the competition and will be the team to watch in the final.

USP on the other hand, who managed to qualify against Ifira 1 will be determined to win the final game as well.

Ifira 1 will take on Ovins in the third place play-off.

In the women’s division, the main final will be between Island Warrior and Ovins.

The Bursary Scheme is a tuition fee assistance scheme available to USPs private students …

A total of 281 private students studying at The University of the South Pacific (USP) have received financial assistance under the USP Student Bursary Scheme.

The Bursary Scheme is a tuition fee assistance scheme available to USP’s private students facing financial hardships. Successful recipients of the Scheme had 50% of their tuition fees paid for in either Semester 1 or Trimester 1, this year.

The government said the students had failed all or most of their courses and would no longer be supported by the state.

The students undertook studies under the Members Education Support Scheme (MESS) of the Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF) last year.

The Daily Post newspaper reported that the Fund's general manager, Parmod Achary, had said there was no alternative but to bring the students home because they had been excluded from the university.