‘No need to backdate Fiji’s funding’
IF the University of the South Pacific survived without the funding from the Fiji Government, then it must not ask for a backdated funding from the Coalition Government, states a new research paper released by the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Author Dr Rohitash Chandra is a UNSW senior lecturer and was a lecturer at USP from 2013-2015.
The FijiFirst government stopped paying grants to USP from 2019 and the outstanding bill by the Fiji government to USP by June this year would amount to $116 million.
“The leftover amount is a huge sum of money for Fiji which can be used to improve roads and hospitals,” he said in the study paper.
“Hence, USP must release detailed financial statements to the public that give a picture of how the university managed with the lack of funds.
“Did the university take external loans that needed to be paid or was it just restructuring where academics were overloaded with teaching that helped in running the university? The exact amount of funds would need to be justified.
“I do not think it is appropriate to fund for positions that were made redundant during the pandemic. Additional funding should not be given unless USP proves itself to be an institution that upholds transparency and accountability.
“Since USP has financed itself during the pandemic by cutting down on academic and support staff mostly through non-renewal of contracts and redundancies, it does not make sense for the Government to backdate any funding left, since those staff positions do not exist.
“The Government should only pay any loans taken by the university to support themselves during this period. The rest of the funding should be directed towards research activities of both FNU and USP so that their international ranking can be improved further.
“We need good leadership so that Fijian academics with international reputation can return in the future, and also take measures so that they are affiliated with the Fijian universities through adjunct academic roles.”
USP said the calculation of
USP’s annual grant was established by an open and transparent process involving all 12 member countries through the University Grants Committee, of which the Fiji Government was a key member.
“Fiji’s arrears are based upon a transparent formula that reflects numbers of staff employed and numbers of enrolled students across our Fiji campuses,” USP said.
“The university staff and students have had to make considerable sacrifices over the last four years due to Fiji’s non-payment of its grant and critical infrastructure investments had been put on hold.
“We now look forward to using the contributions of all our member governments to support our strategic plan objectives which are set by and reported to our council.”