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The Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service will sponsor a total of 17, 000 students in the 2024 Academic Year.

TSLS Chief Executive, Hasmukh Lal says of these 9,148 are continuing students, while the TSLS will provide scholarships to 8, 720 new students.

Lal says the government has allocated $92.7 million for existing students and $55 million for first-year students.

“So every year when we budget we have the budget for the continuing students and we have also got the budget for the new students. So that means in total of 17,000 students will be sponsored with the 148 million budget that TSLS has got from the Fiji government.”

Lal is urging students to choose their study programs wisely, so they can complete their studies on time and serve the nation.

“And my message to the new students will be that the taxpayers of the country will be funding you through the scholarships and the whole rationale and the value to sponsor a student with a scholarship is to save the country. So the priority will be once they graduate they need to serve the country given that we are faced with the exodus of skilled migration plus we are also losing a lot of professionals at the moment.”

According to the TSLS data, 1, 941 funded by them have successfully graduated.

In addition to scholarships, TSLS provides only one loan initiative known as the ‘in-service’ program.

It is for individuals already in the workforce seeking to enhance their qualifications, and the scheme accommodates only 100 participants.