[Source: USP]

The Fiji Higher Education Commission is pushing forward a succession plan for local tertiary institutions to reskill and upgrade local academics who are understudying expatriates.

FHEC Director Dr Rohit Kishore says knowledge transfer is a compulsory recruitment criterion but has yet to be assessed.

“Continuing development education is there to upskill and reskill our own people and support succession planning. If expatriates come, they make sure they have very good succession planning. They are not here forever; they train our own people, and over a period of time, our own people can take up those positions.”

Kishore says all local institutions have processes in place in relation to recruiting expatriate academics to ensure qualified Fijians are not overlooked.

FHEC Director Dr Rohit Kishore.

He says these institutions only recruit expatriates on a need-based basis for particular areas of study.

There are currently 51 registered higher education institutions in Fiji, including three universities.