$150.5M for TSLS to fund 9,940 continuing students and 10,830 new students

9,940 continuing students and 10,830 new students will be assisted by the $150.5 million allocated to the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says as a responsible government, they need to ensure that they are able to reap the benefits of their investment.

Professor Prasad says they are introducing a 50 percent penalty on non-served bond periods and if students do not wish to fully serve the bond period and pay off the remaining bond service on apportioned amount, then a penalty will be applied on the remaining amount.

He says a 50 percent penalty will be applied to the balance of the bond service.

The Deputy Prime Minister says the rationale is in the national interest and to get maximum return of the investment by having the graduates to serve the country.

He says all students have to fully serve their bond, but if they choose to migrate before the completion of the bond, then they will have to pay the remaining balance with a 50 percent penalty before leaving the country.

Prof. Prasad says if students do not have sufficient funds to pay off, the overseas employer should clear full payment and students can make repayment arrangements with them.

The Deputy Prime Minister says effective from 1st August 2024, graduates will not be allowed to make arrangements to do bond repayment from overseas unless determined by FRCS and TSLS on a case-by-case basis.

He says on average, Government spends $400,000 to fund a student on an overseas scholarship and to obtain an equitable return of investment in the bond service, students with overseas scholarship schemes will be bonded 2.5 times of the duration of the study.

He also says the minimum cut off for Degree Programmes will be 250 marks for all other schools and 245 marks for schools which are categorized as rural and maritime.

Professor Prasad says the entry requirement for on-boarding into this scheme will be changed from 65 percent GPA to 50 percent and will be extended to TVET students at Diploma level in addition to the current degree students.

The Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS) Board welcomes the budget announcement and the commitment made by the Coalition Government in empowering Fiji’s Future.

TSLS Board Chair, Ro Teimumu Kepa says as a developing country, Fiji needs to continuously and at a time, aggressively invest in talent development to keep the skills set supply in the workforce.

Ro Teimumu says the TSLS Board and management look forward to working with all key stakeholders at all levels to continue to build Fiji’s human capital.

Professor Prasad says they are introducing a new scheme to fund 20 students to pursue PhD and masters in priority research areas at selected universities in Australia.

He says the tuition cost will be borne by the Australian University while the Government will provide partial support to cover for airfares, stipend and any other associated cost.

He says the government thanks the participating Australian Universities for this great partnership and a sum of $1.4 million is allocated for this.

The Deputy Prime Minister says secondly, they are also introducing a merit based in-service overseas scholarship for postgraduate diploma in specialised areas and a sum of $1.6 million is allocated to fund 20 in-service students to undertake specialist postgraduate diplomas in health, veterinary science and engineering studies.

Prof. Prasad says they have allocated scholarships for 300 students who can undertake Certificate III, IV or Diploma level 5 programmes with our industry partners like Energy Fiji Limited, Marriott Academy, FSC, Telecom and some other large employers that will come on board adding that employers will have the opportunity to employ these students upon successful completion of the programme.

He says the fourth new scheme is a grant based support to assist our graduates to start a business and become job creators, rather than job seekers, and this is where they as a Government need to support the young and creative entrepreneurs.

The Deputy Prime Minister has announced that the Government is allocating $10,000 per student for 30 TSLS sponsored graduates or final semester graduating students to undergo training and start a business with the support from the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation.