There is a slight saving from the current budget allocated to the Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board due to revised policies.

The TSLB has been allocated over $181m in the 2019/2020 budget, a decrease of around $74m.

Board chair, Dixion Seeto says it is a sensible move as under the new policy students will now study at campuses closer to their home towns.

“I think there is two things there – one you actually save money and two the fact that you are staying at home and studying under parental control, I think would bring about better results in terms of the pass rate because you have a more stable environment, you don’t have to look for your food and things are provided for you.”

Seeto states they’ve done long term analysis and took a number of factors into consideration when making its submission for budget.

“We’ve had discussions on our own first with the Minister and then subsequently with the Minister for Economy where we actually articulated some of the policy changes we would like to see to bring about more discipline and also to bring about meritocracy which I think the AG was after.”

The significant investment in higher education aims to boost the competitiveness of the Fijian workforce over the medium to long-term by giving students a chance to purse graduate studies in growing industries.