Fijians to study in Britain
IN 1990, the Fijian Affairs Board (FAB) had decided to send its scholarship students to Britain instead of Australia.
Australia had been the traditional training ground for the FAB awardees in past years because of its closeness and similar education system.
A report in The Fiji Times on January 11, 1990, said changes in the Australian education policies that year had meant increases of up to 200 per cent in costs to overseas students.
“The recent increase in costs is far beyond our capabilities,” said Filipe Bole, the Minister of Education, Youth, and Sports.
“It’s unfortunate but we have to look elsewhere.”
Mr Bole was also the chairman of the FAB Scholarship Selection Committee.
Figures released showed that education costs for overseas students in Australia had increased to $30,000 compared with $10,000 for a similar course the year before.
“Because of this, we have decided that as many students as possible, sponsored by the FAB, should be sent to the United Kingdom (UK),” Mr Bole said.
He said it was cheaper for students to study in the UK than in Australia. It would cost the FAB about $20,000 a year to train a student in the UK compared with $30,000 in Australia.
“Distance may be a disadvantage but certainly not the quality of education and costs,” Mr Bole said.
“We have had to take a very hard look at the cost structure, bearing in mind that for $30,000, we could sponsor 10 students at the University of the South Pacific.
“So, we have now decided that the top 15 students this year would be sent to the United Kingdom and the rest to USP.”
The policy change was not expected to affect FAB scholarship holders already studying in Australia.