Education Minister Aseri Radrodro announced this week the introduction of a new scheme designed to give Fijians access to PhD scholarships.

Speaking in Parliament on the ministerial delegation to Tertiary and Scholarships Loans Service students in Sydney and Canberra, he said the scheme was designed “to boost Fiji’s human capital.

“This is the newly introduced scheme called Cost Sharing Overseas PhD Scholarship,” he said.

“Under this agreement the universities will cover tuition fee while TSLS will pay stipend, airfare and any other cost associated with the study.

“As such, the taxpayers of Fiji will save around $300,000 tuition fee for a four-year PhD programme and will have graduates of top quality.”

Mr Radrodro said the University of Newcastle was the first university to come on board for the cost-sharing overseas PhD initiative on July 3.

“During the visit, I witnessed the signing of the cost-sharing overseas PhD MOU between TSLS and the University of New South Wales and Western Sydney University and I thank these two universities for development perspective towards Fiji.”

Mr Radrodro along with TSLS Board Chair Ro Teimumu Kepa, TSLS CEO Dr Hasmukh Lal, and staff from TSLS and Education Ministry.

The universities visited included the University of New South Wales, Western Sydney University, The University Newcastle and the University of Canberra.

During the visit to the four universities, the delegation explained the intentions of the scholarship investment and the focus on developing human capital, particularly with the introduction of a new overseas scheme called Scholarships for Merit-based Postgraduate Diploma Specialisation, In-service, overseas training and the increased quota in the scholarship for merit-based undergraduate overseas scheme from 40 awards to 80.

Mr Radrodro said they also had the opportunity to visit the world class Brumbies sport facility at the University of Canberra, “where TSLS will send prospective students to pursue qualifications in sport science and sports medicine.”

“This is a model where the university has a partnership facility for learning, teaching research and sports excellence with ACT Brumbies.”