USP Enrolment Struggles, Cost Cutting Advised

The University of the South Pacific enrolment numbers for the new academic year has been below what the University had expected.

This was revealed in an email sent to USP staff by the Director of the Pacific Technical and Further Education (Pacific TAFE), Susan Sela.

The email also outlined that USP staff were expected to implement cost-cutting measures outlined by the Senior Management Team.

The email stated:

“I wish to draw your attention to the fact that as I am writing this email, our enrolment numbers are still not up to where we would like them to be, in fact this is also true for the entire University.

“Therefore, I wish to highlight the need for us to be mindful of all the cost cutting measures that have been set in place by the SMT and which was sent out to you last week by the Executive Director Finance.

“With this in consideration, together with low numbers and a lighter teaching load, I am requesting that we do all we can to keep costs down. I have asked the Lautoka staff to help with the closing off the campus instead of the hiring of a student intern.

“I have asked the HOCs to look at the workload of all teaching staff. Remember we recruited when we saw that a full workload was in place, without a full workload, we will find other tasks that you can help with until our numbers improve, and we are on a better footing.

“We have a few more days of marketing and I urge all those scheduled to avail yourselves for this important activity. I have learnt that staff have complained about their schedule for marketing. We are a self-funding unit- this is everyone’s responsibility. We must do all we can to stay afloat! One person cannot do this alone, we need everyone on board for this!”

Questions have been sent to Ms Sela to expand further on cost-cutting measures and enrolment numbers. She was yet to respond when this edition went to press.

Feedback: wati.talebula@fijisun.com.fj