The 2024/2025 National Budget in Fiji has allocated $91 million to tertiary institutions, including USP, FNU, UniFiji, Pacific Polytech, and Sangam Institute of Tech.
Professor Biman Prasad, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, stated that the government restored the grant for USP after its dispute with the previous government.
The government promptly identified funding and paid $10 million, followed by $20 million in the last Budget, with a further $5 million allocated for the payment of the outstanding grant.
USP receives $33.5 million as its normal grant for this year. Fiji National University will receive a funding grant of $36.5 million. The Ministry of Education has initiated reviews of tertiary education institutions, including FNU, focusing on quality.
The University of Fiji is provided an increased grant of $5 million, with $1 million for the construction of the Center for i-Taukei Studies. Pacific Polytech has been supported for the last two years and has had a major impact on technical training in Fiji to address the current labor market shortage.
Sangam Institute of Technology is provided with a budget of $545,000 for operations and an additional $1 million for capital works to expand its infrastructure in Labasa and establish a new nursing school facility in Nadi.
A total of $2.2 million is also provided to Corpus Christi, Fulton College, Montfort Technical Institute, Monfort Boys Town, and Vivekananda Technical Centre, as well as two new institutions: Caregivers Training Institute and ServicePro International Tourism Hospitality Institute.
