Sainimili Magimagi 
The Tertiary Scholarship Loans scheme has reported a significant surge in scholarship applications with 8,700 new sponsored students for semester one 2025, compared to 4,000 in 2023, and surpassing 6,422 last year.
TSLS anticipates the total number of the new applicants to reach 10,000 as registration continues for TVET scholarships and Semester Two under the current financial year.
CEO Hasmukh Lal revealed that education studies top the list of new awards, followed by business and commerce, medicine and health science, automotive and hot plants, tourism, construction and information technology services. These programmes include both TVET and higher education levels.
In addition to the new recipients, there are 10,000 existing sponsored students.
Lal highlighted that with the institution’s focus on inclusivity, 1,822 students – mainly unemployed individuals and school dropouts – have been provided grants in priority areas such as automotive, construction and tourism.
This brings the total number of sponsored students to 20,746 students, the highest since 2020, 53 per cent of whom are female.
He noted that grants for semester two and quarter two are still to be disbursed, and total sponsorship numbers are expected to hit 22,000 by the end of the year.
Lal says this is a testament that the scholarship policies are effective because they are giving access to more Fijians who were not privileged to equitable access to education.
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