Overseas Scholarships Will Be Back Soon: TSLS Chief Executive

The Tertiary Education and Loans Service will reinstate overseas scholarships from the next academic year, it has been confirmed.

TSLS chief executive officer Dr Hasmukh Lal revealed yesterday that some universities from Australia and New Zealand had been selected for the programme.

Known as the National Toppers Scheme Overseas Scholarships, the scholarship had been suspended in the past three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Lal also revealed that some changes had been incorporated into the contract.

Following its rigorous assessment, TSLS found that expenses of some students were more expensive than their tuition fee.

“Before, we used to have the open gate system where students choose the university of their choice. For example, if you study at the University of Technology Sydney, the expenses come towards 65 per cent compared to tuition fee,” Dr Lal said.

“So, we really want to see that we get the best value of the money that the Government is spending.”

There are nine universities from the two countries that TSLS will partner with moving forward.

“We are currently finalising the Letter of Understanding,” he said.

“So we have looked at the institutions or the universities which are providing the best quality programmess and are affordable, and also their programmes that meet our priority areas.”

These universities are Auckland University of Technology, Massey University, Monash University, Queensland University of Technology, Western Sydney University, University of Auckland, University of New Castle and University of New South Wales.

Dr Lal said these universities were selected based on the priority areas of the Government, which were studies not offered locally.

Strategic Plan, New Website And Mobile App

Meanwhile, an expert from Australia is working on preparing a Human Capital Development Plan for Fiji for the next 10 years.

Professor Hitendra Pillay, from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, has been tasked by the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS) to “identify skills shortage and continuing demand areas” in Fiji.

Dr Lal said the plan would underpin with industry trends and new normal imperatives, which ranked and prioritised the needs for fund- ing. This is expected to meet the short to medium and long-term needs of employers here.

“The priority areas for the study loans and scholarships were decided in 2014 when TSLS was established and it hasn’t undergone a number of reviews or significant reviews,” he said.

An area that TSLS will focus on is vocational studies, which happens to be in demand not only in the country but overseas as well, according to Dr Lal.

Professor Pillay has a multidisciplinary background ranging from education, to engineering, to cognitive science – resulting in a diverse academic research portfolio.

The plan is expected to be completed in the next six months.

Latest Development

TSLS is currently moving its office from McGregor Road in Suva to the Garden City in Raiwaqa.

Scheduled to open later this month, the organisation will also launch its new website that would be user friendly. The website has features that are friendly to persons with disabilities.

It will also launch its mobile app that enables students to access services including information on loan and bond statements.

A system has also been designed to provide live updates to students when they lodge a complaint.

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