14,241 students have graduated under the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme, no data available on their employment – Akbar

Minister for Education, Rosy Akbar says 14,241 students have graduated under the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme however there is no data available in terms of their employment.

While responding to a written question by SODELPA MP Salote Radrodro, Akbar says a total of 16,304 students have graduated since the inception of the Tertiary Scholarship Loans Board in 2014.

She says under the National Toppers Scholarship, a total of 1,086 students have graduated and 924 have successfully entered the workforce.

Akbar adds that the Fiji Higher Education Commission is currently conducting the Graduate Outcomes Survey and the intention of this survey and the findings is to improve the information available on the Fijian Graduates on the alignment of Fiji's higher education qualifications with employer's needs.

Akbar says the survey results will provide an important measure of the effectiveness and performance of Fiji's investment in higher education and will provide the critical information on the future policy directions to be undertaken in terms of the Fijian Government's priority areas and investment in the education sector.