The Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Service

The Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Service has outlined details of its new cost-sharing PhD scholarship scheme.

Chief Executive Hasmukh Lal says it costs taxpayers $400,000 to sponsor one student for a three-year university degree program, so the PhD program will be even more expensive.

Lal says the government has allocated $1,800,000 with 20 awards for this new PhD scheme in the 2024-25 national budget.

“So we approach the Australian universities in terms of they have developed an agenda on the Pacific, and the four universities were quite keen to come on board and say we will pay the tuition fee cost for the PhD students, while the Fiji government to take care of the stipend and any other associated cost.”

The four universities include, the Western Sydney University, Swinburne University of Technology, University of Newcastle and Queensland University of Technology.

Lal says they will soon be talking to the Monash University to come on board as well.

Due to skilled migration, Fiji has been losing many health specialists.

Lal adds with the introduction of this new scheme, individuals in the medical, veterinary, and engineering fields can enroll in postgraduate diplomas or even master’s degree programs.

“And we can’t hold the health of our public at ransom without having the skill set in the three areas, particularly in veterinary, medical sciences, and engineering. We know for a fact that Fiji has got only two orthopedic surgeons, and if you compare two orthopedic surgeons against the population of the country, that’s really, really low. We need more cardiologists. We need more people to be trained in other medical areas to become specialists.”

Medical doctors who have completed five years of their nine-year bond under the TSLS sponsorship can now qualify for a new specialist scholarship scheme.