$650 million TELS debt to be forgiven, bond service to be implemented and a new Fijian Scholarship Scheme to be announced

The $650 million TELS debt will be forgiven and graduates will have to enter into a bond service which will be years of study multiplied by 1.5.

While announcing this in the 2023/2024 National Budget, Finance Minister, Professor Biman Prasad says those who choose not to serve the bond will have to pay the equivalent cost amount.

Moving forward, the government will provide all eligible students with scholarships under the rebranded Fijian Scholarship Scheme with a total budget of $148.2 million in this Budget.

The Fijian Scholarship Scheme funds will be used to sponsor 10,920 new students (inclusive of study grants), and fund 9,148 existing students.

The new scholarship schemes will replace study loans.

The Scholarship for Higher Education – Level 7 Local Scheme with Minimum Cut Off Mark Scheme will phase out TELS for degree Scheme.

The cut-off mark will be 250, while 245 will be for rural and maritime students. The cut-off mark for Commerce will be 280, and for Engineering at 300. These cut-off marks have been set based on the labour market needs, university enrolment capacities and the need to maintain tertiary education quality. The Skills Qualification Based on Offer Letter Scheme will phase out TELS for Skills Qualification Scheme at the Fiji National University.

Government will offer funding for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to other providers in areas of national priority. The bonding arrangement will be same as scholarships for Higher Education - Level 7 Scheme.

The Tuition Only Hardship Assistance Scheme for Private Students is a new scheme aimed to assist students enrolled in degree programmes from the second year onwards with a Grade Point Average of 65 percent. Students qualifying for this scheme will be bonded and should not have a combined parental income or business net-worth of more than $100,000, unless allowed via means testing.

The Scheme will have 2,600 awards, while 250 awards is ringfenced for MBBS.

The National Toppers Scholarships will be renamed to Merit-based Scholarships.

Given the challenges faced by rural and maritime schools, Government intends to build equity through merit-based Higher Education Level 7 Local Scholarship Scheme; merit-based Skills Qualification Scholarship Scheme; and Higher Education Level 7 with Minimum Cut-Off Mark Scheme.

Students in schools classified as rural and maritime will have a lower cut-off mark of 320 compared to the cut-off mark of 330 for non-rural and non-maritime schools.

The bonding for the new students under this scheme will be years of study multiplied by 1.5 times if tuition only and years of study multiplied by 2 times if tuition and allowance is paid.

Effective from 1st January 2024, all students under scholarships other than merit-based will receive $2,500 per semester if they study at campus away from home, $1,500 for home-based campuses. In terms of allowances, students under merit-based scholarships will be eligible for $3,400 per semester.

The full details and eligibility and the selection criteria handbook will be published by TSLS soon.

A new initiative by the Coalition Government will set aside 3 PhDs, and 5 Masters by Research awards for study at New Zealand Universities.

2023-2024 Budget Coverage