Kreetika Kumar 
Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Service Chief Executive, Hasmukh Lal believes the countries where Fijians are migrating to, need to compensate Fiji in terms of the brain drain cost.
Lal explains Fiji has seasonal employment whereby people are going overseas, which is called the export of human capital.
He says a lot of talented people work for companies in the Pacific and other regions.
Lal adds while some return, others are permanently migrating because of job opportunities.
He adds that we have to accept that labour migration will become the norm, but we need to look at ways to fill the gaps created by these people.
“Migration has been there, and we have lived with it. But I think the exodus is created because it’s a global trend. So I think the major destination countries, the major ones are Australia and New Zealand. I think some of the solutions they can look into in terms of compensating the developing countries, in terms of assisting them to continue to invest in their people.”
Lal says there can be targeted budget support given for the government to invest in scholarships and training programs for our own people.
The Chief Executive says they will be working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to harmonize the scholarships given by the bilateral partners.
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