Head of Vodafone eCommerce and Digital Financial Services Shailendra Prasad [left] with Dr. Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga [Photo: Supplied]

The M-PAiSA mobile payment option is now available to students at the University of the South Pacific Laucala Campus and across all campuses in Fiji.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President for Regional Campuses and Global Engagements, Dr. Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga, says the university is moving towards a “less cash campus” initiative to reduce cash handling on campus, which ensures that carrying large amounts of cash by students and staff is minimized.

He says USP hopes to encourage cashless payment via M-PAISA at restaurants and coffee shops around campus to make it more convenient and secure for students.

“This will benefit our students greatly in terms of fee payment options and while the traditional payment methods are mainly by means of a visit to the bank, Mpaisa allows students to make payments quickly and eliminates the need to wait in long use. At the cashier counters the availability of Mpaisa payment convenient to our students and it is also in line with less cash initiative reducing the handling of cash on campus. “

Head of Vodafone eCommerce and Digital Financial Services Shailendra Prasad, says M-PAiSA offers many benefits as there are no fees or charges for using the M-PAiSA service to pay USP.

“I know it has taken a fair bit of time and COVID didn’t help, but now we are finally there and what it will do is, as you rightly said Chancellor, is it gives students the flexibility to be able to pay 24/7 and also not to carry large amount of physical cash..”

The M-PAiSA App is also zero-rated for data charges, which means that students can use it even if their mobile phones have no data balance.