Fiji National University students at Derrick Campus in Samabula have been told by Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum that making Tertiary Education free is something the government cannot afford to do at this stage.
Sayed-Khaiyum made the comments while responding to a student who asked if the government would consider making tertiary education free for those from poor backgrounds.
He says every time we need to live within our means, stressing that people only started talking about free tertiary education when the government introduced the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme.
Sayed-Khaiyum also said at the 2018-2019 National Budget consultations today that the government does not want to open up the pandora's box by allowing TELS to cover for certain overseas courses.
Students also raised issues about the need to increase the number of lecture rooms at FNU Campuses, the need to have more cleaners and accreditation for engineering courses.
Also at the 2018 2019 National Budget consultations today, two students raised issues about the FNU not having well‑qualified lecturers.
They raised issues about lecturers with only degree and masters qualifications teaching honours programs.
Responding to one of the students, Sayed Khaiyum said he also hears things about FNU and it appears that some people do not want expatriates to run FNU.
He says these people want only Fijians to run the University.
Sayed Khaiyum says he disagrees with this and we should get the right qualified people to run FNU.
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