Exiled University of the South Pacific vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia says he is thrilled at the prospect of returning to Fiji.

Speaking to The Fiji Times from Los Angeles in the United States yesterday, he said Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka — when he was in opposition — made a commitment to pay Fiji’s outstanding debt of $90 million to USP and to allow him to return to Fiji.

“Mr Rabuka said it, National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said it, and the Social Democratic Liberal Party leader also said it,” Professor Ahluwalia said.

• READ MORE: Exiled USP chief, Dr Lal now free to enter Fiji, says Rabuka
• USP unions slam Fiji’s Sayed-Khaiyum for ‘damaging’ Pacific university
• Other USP saga reports

“So it’s part of all three parties’ manifestos and part of their public statements, so we as a university are delighted that this amount that has been outstanding for so long will finally come to the university.

“It’s excellent news, not just for the Fijian students but for the entire region because the region has been carrying Fijian students for quite a while and there will now be a chance for us to do a lot of things that we have deferred and not been able to do, particularly issues around maintenance.

“It also means we can now aggressively look for quality academic staff.”

Rabuka issued a statement on Boxing Day saying the prohibition order against Professor Ahluwalia had been lifted and he was welcome to travel to Fiji at any time.

Professor Ahluwalia and his wife Sandra Price claimed that on Wednesday February 3, 2021, 15 people made up of immigration officials and police stormed into their USP home and forcefully removed them at about 11.30pm.

They claimed they were driven the same night to Nadi International Airport and deported on the morning of Thursday, February 4, to Australia.

The FijiFirst government on February 4, 2022 issued a statement that the Immigration Department had ordered Professor Aluwahlia and his partner Sandra Price to leave Fiji with immediate effect following alleged “continuous breaches” by both individuals of Section 13 of the Immigration Act.

Government said under Section 13 of the Immigration Act 2003, no foreigner was permitted to conduct themselves in a manner prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security, or good government of Fiji.

Fiji now ‘free country’
RNZ Pacific reports that Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad said all three parties in the coalition had promised this in their election campaigns and manifestos.

The former FijiFirst government have withheld the payments since 2019 over a protracted battle with Professor Ahluwalia, now operating in exile out of Samoa.

“They didn’t like a man who was doing the right thing who exposed corruption within the university,” Professor Prasad said.

“And it has done you know, to some extent, terrible damage not only to the university, but also the unity in the whole region.”

In July, the two unions representing staff at the university said the Fiji government owes the institution F$78.4 million and the debt has increased since then.

“Well, I can’t tell you the timetable, but all I can say is…that the university will receive the appropriate funding, as well as the government will pay what is due as a result of the previous government withholding the grant to the university,” Professor Prasad said.

His revelation comes after the government statement by Prime Minister Rabuka inviting Professor Ahluwalia to return to Fiji.

Personal apology
Rabuka said he wanted to apologise to Professor Ahluwalia in person upon his arrival for the way he had been treated by Fiji.

The prime minister has also invited the widow of exiled Fijian academic, Professor Brij Lal, who passed away on Christmas Day last year to bring home his ashes for burial at Tabia near Labasa.

Professor Prasad said they look forward to welcoming home more Fijians and expatriates exiled during Voreqe Bainimarama’s 16-year-reign.

“Fiji is now a free country. We will welcome everyone who wants to come to Fiji. No one should fear about any kind of vindictiveness or harassment,” Professor Prasad said.

“That is what we promised during our campaign, and that is what this government will deliver.”

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with Fiji Times permission. This article is also republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Professor thrilled over #USP return – #Fiji to pay $90m #university debt #AsiaPacificReport @fijitimes #rnzpacific @pal_vcp @ShailendraBSing @wansolwara @USPWansolwara @GeraldP87 #Fijipol #education #SitiveniRabuka @bimanprasad https://t.co/bC0ECuzF7d pic.twitter.com/laTlgEH3bf

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) December 26, 2022

Screams erupted as the sound of gunshots ricocheted around the open-air market. People ran.

It was bloody.

“I saw from my own eyes the gun violence,” says Laurens Ikinia.

• READ MORE:  Indonesian policy switch cuts off funding for Papuan students in NZ – Matthew Scott
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• Papuan students succeed in NZ – ‘the golden generation from Papua’
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• Papuan students succeed in NZ – ‘the golden generation from Papua’
• Other West Papua education reports

“It was just crazy.”

Ikinia was still a child when he witnessed Indonesian security forces open fire at a market in Wamena, the largest highland town in West Papua’s Baliem Valley.

He says it was a massacre. It was later recognised as the 2003 Wamena Incident (or Peristiwa Wamena 2003 in Bahasa Indonesian).

What began as a raid on an armoury led to a two-month operation by the Indonesian Army and National Police. Thousands of villagers were displaced, civilians killed.

It was a response to increasing cries for West Papuan independence.

Some healing in NZ
The trauma of that day lasts, says Ikinia, but in the recent years, studying in New Zealand he has experienced some healing.

Ikinia is one of 125 West Papuan students in Aotearoa, arriving in 2015 and 2016 on a scholarship to study abroad.

He aspires to write Pasifika stories, about the people and places largely ignored by the international media.

He is close to completing a Master of Communications at Auckland University of Technology.

However, the domino effect of legislative changes in Jakarta means the 27-year-old stands to lose it all.

A couple of years before the violence in Wamena, Papua Provincial Governor Lukas Enembe established a scholarship programme for Papuans to study abroad.

The investment in indigenous human resources drew on Special Autonomy funds granted by Jakarta, but employed at the governor’s discretion.

‘Inspired thinking’
“It was inspired thinking on his part,” says Professor David Robie, retired director of the Pacific Media Centre and editor of Asia Pacific Report (APR).

“Get them educated outside West Papua, outside Indonesia, and come back with fresh ideas.”

But in 2021, the money dried up.

In a 20-year legislative review, the central Indonesian government passed a bill ratifying sweeping amendments to the Special Autonomy Law, effectively diverting money and authority away from the provinces.

Despite widespread opposition by West Papuans and calls for an independence referendum instead, the funds propping up several provincial programmes, including the scholarships were allocated elsewhere.

The fallout for the students abroad arrived in December.

A letter to the Indonesian embassy with a list of names — 39 students in New Zealand, and dozens of others overseas, were to be sent home.

‘Underperforming’ students
A translation of the letter says underperforming students and those who had not completed their study in the allocated timeframe would be repatriated by December 31, 2021.

Ikinia’s name is on the list.

“It doesn’t make sense at all,” he says.

“Based on my track record, I was one of the ones that completed the programme the fastest.”

He says all postgraduate students were given a three-month thesis extension due to covid interruptions.

“I am just about to finish.”

He says the decision to recall students is based on incorrect data held by the Provincial Government’s Human Resources Department Bureau (HRDB).

Many phone calls
“We have had a number of phone calls. It seems like people in the department don’t hold the data according to the latest results.

“It’s totally wrong. I did not start my masters in 2016.”

It’s politics, says Yan Wenda, president of the Papuan Student Association in Oceania, and a postgraduate student at the University of Otago.

“The central government in Jakarta changed the law without any input from the provincial government.

“They did the review, and in some areas changed how they managed the money between the provinces and the districts.

“It affects the students studying abroad.”

He says calls to the bureau confirmed this.

‘The money is not here’
“[They said] ‘the money is not here. It’s just not happening for you guys, you’ll have to come back home.’”

He says not only have successful students been recalled, but also the allowance for others has stopped.

“As students we are desperate to pay our rent. We haven’t had any allowance in two months.

“This is why we need to speak up about this.

“We have been victims of this change.”

A public statement issued by the newly formed International Alliance of Papuan Student Associations Overseas (IAPSAO) on January 27 urged the Indonesian government to consider the rights of Papuans to obtain a quality education.

Wenda and student presidents from the United States and Canada — where 81 students were recalled, Russia, Germany, and Japan signed it.

Sustainability of the governor’s policy
They requested the 10 per cent fund allocation for the education sector return to the Papua Provincial Government “for the continuity and sustainability of the governor’s policy to develop Papuan human resources”.

“Don’t kill Papuan human resources anymore with political policy.”

The students have since demanded that the Indonesian Embassy facilitate a dialogue with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

“It is a really sad development,” says Professor Robie.

“It’s all political by Jakarta. It’s all about self-determination, all about denying the rights of Melanesians in the two provinces of Papua to define their own future.”

He says the Jakarta government is uncomfortable with the student scholarships, and says the premise for repatriation was baseless.

“They are trying to curb the rights of Papuan students to get an education overseas.

‘Fundamentally changed’
“What has fundamentally changed is that (provincial) autonomy, that right to send those students to where they want to go.

“Those decisions are no longer in their hands.”

After APR reported on the issue, Dr Robie received a letter from the Indonesian Embassy, stating it was “appalled at the unfounded claims” made in the regional website.

The letter said the Indonesian government was committed to ensuring the right to education for all Indonesian citizens.

In response to questions from the Times-Age the embassy refuted claims that repatriation of students was politically motivated and said the HRDB did not recall students based on academic performance alone.

Length of study and the students’ disciplinary records were also taken into account.

A spokesperson said they could not speak to the accuracy of the information used recall students. However, they said the decision was the result of a thorough assessment by the bureau.

Conceded adjustments made
They denied budget cuts to the Papuan Special Autonomy Fund were responsible, but conceded adjustments were made to the “budgetary system”.

In response to the demands for dialogue with the president:

“[We] have duly engaged and in coordination with concerned students, Students’ Coordinator, student organisations, and the Provincial Government of Papua to further discuss the issue at hand.”

Wenda and Ikinia say scholarship students around the world are united in their stance, they will not return home.

“We are demanding our rights to education. We have no political agenda at all,”  Ikinia says.

“The government claims that we have a hidden political agenda, this is totally incorrect and unacceptable. We have been always participating in the events that the Indonesian Embassy has been hosting.”

When Indonesia staged a Pacific Exposition in Auckland in 2019, Papuan students actively participated in the event. Most of the Papuan students participated as local ambassadors to accompany the diplomats and delegations who came from the Pacific.

“I myself have also been the president of the Indonesian Students Association in Palmerston North and at the same time vice-president of Indonesian Students in New Zealand in 2018-19.”

‘Trauma healing’
Ikinia says West Papuans have become a minority in their own land, and suffering is not an anomaly.

“In New Zealand I realised how other people could treat us, like family,” he says.

“This is the treatment we should receive from the Indonesian government.”

He believes coming to New Zealand goes beyond academic achievement.

“It is part of the journey to find the potential in my life. And it’s part of the trauma healing.”

He says the New Zealand government is in a position to help the students, by acknowledging their Pasifika status.

“We are not Asians, we are Melanesians.

“We know NZ is a generous country that helps minority groups. We hope in this difficult time the New Zealand government will open its arms and have us as part of their Pacific family.”

Mary Argue is a Wairarapa Times-Age reporter. Republished with permission.

A convicted Tongan government minister, ‘Akosita Lavulavu, and her husband ‘Etuate Lavulavu have each been jailed for six years.

They were sentenced today in the Supreme Court after being found guilty on charges of obtaining money by false pretences.

The couple owned and ran the educational institution ‘Unuaki ‘o Tonga Royal Institute. They obtained state funding for the training facility, but kept the money.

• READ MORE: Tongan cabinet minister convicted of major fraud

Supreme Court judge Justice Nicholas Cooper said the couple had a “highly devised plan”, which they committed over about three-years, reports Matangi Tonga.

He said the public money was intended to benefit the children.

The judge said that while ‘Akosita Lavulavu had no previous offences and had pleaded for mercy, she had shown no remorse.

‘Etuate Lavulavu was first elected to Parliament in 2002, but was convicted of bribery in 2016 and forced to resign.

His wife then stepped into his parliamentary shoes.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

In the New Zealand 2021 Budget, a big investment of NZ$108 million has been signalled to support the wellbeing of the Pacific population through the rebuild and recovery from the covid-19 pandemic.

Pacific Peoples Minister ‘Aupito William Sio said this was a significant investment for Pacific communities who have been hard-hit by the pandemic in the past year.

“With the Pacific Aotearoa Lalanga Fou Goals as a guide, the Pacific package puts a strong focus on Pacific wellbeing and continues the government’s commitment to ensuring that Pacific peoples are leading this work to achieve confident, thriving, prosperous and resilient communities,” he said.

“Budget 2021 makes this possible through tailored business, health and education initiatives that bolster the vital holistic work Pacific communities are already doing across the country.”

• READ MORE: Budget 2021: Benefits boost in ‘quest to reduce inequality’
• RNZ coverage of the 2021 Budget

The $108 million Pacific package is made up of the following:

• $99.6 million new operating funding
• $660,000 new capital funding from the Budget 2021 allowances and the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF).
• $7.8 million in operating funding is repurposed from existing funding in Vote Education.

The package includes:

• $30.3 million boost to assist the Tupu Aotearoa programme to support approximately 7500 Pacific peoples into employment, training, and education across Aotearoa New Zealand, funded from the CRRF.
• Investing $6.6 million to support establishing the Pacific Wellbeing Strategy – a cross-government initiative that will develop ways to measure Pacific wellbeing across government work programmes and initiatives.
• Supporting Pacific businesses through the impacts of covid-19 with $16.2 million for business support services, funded from the CRRF.
• $20.8 million supporting Pacific bilingual and immersion education in the schooling system, made up of $12.4 million of new operating funding and $644,000 of new capital funding from Budget 2021 allowances, with $7.8 million of repurposed funding from Vote Education.
• $5 million operating funding and $16,000 capital funding to deliver sustained professional learning and development to embed Tapasā as a tool to address social inclusion in the education sector.
• $5.1 million for the development of two new Pacific language subjects, gagana Tokelau and vagahau Niue as NCEA Achievement Standards subjects.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Staff of the regional University of the South Pacific have condemned the Fiji government’s “dictatorial” action in freezing a $28 million grant, accusing it of holding the governing University Council to ransom and jeopardising the future of students.

“Fiji is reneging on its commitment to its people and the region,” say the staff in a letter to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

The letter, signed yesterday by the university’s academic Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) and the USP Staff Union (USPSU) leadership, was sent in support of the 29,000 students following the grant suspension statement by the Attorney-General that has “sent shock waves across this regional institution to which 80 percent of graduates from Fiji are indebted”.

• READ MORE: Fiji suspends grants to USP over long-standing conflict
• More USP saga stories

Attorney-General Aiyaz Saiyed-Khaiyum was reported as saying the Fiji government – as the largest grant contributor to the USP – was concerned at the “continuous question marks about the lack of adherence to the principles of good governance in the day to day administration of USP”.

This came after months of conflict at the regional institution between the University Council and the Fiji-based university management.

It also followed recent exoneration by the University Council of popular Canadian vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia who had been targeted by two senior Fiji officials over his reforms.

Yesterday’s staff letter said: “It is poor governance when a single member state of the USP Council attempts to dictate its course of action.

Critical financial position
“The staff of the USP strongly object to the AG and Minister for Economy’s decision to cease Fiji’s grant contribution to the USP,” the letter said.

“This places the university in a critical financial position, jeopardising the education of Fiji students (80 percent) and Fiji staff (80 percent).

“This decision is viewed as an assault on the Fiji students and staff who, to date, in this covid and pre-covid environment of 2019 have been able to continue their education and work with minimum impact under the current vice-chancellor’s prudent leadership and council oversight.

“The government is seen to be using Fiji students and staff to dictate to and to hold the USP Council to ransom whilst holding a ‘gun’ to the head of the vice-chancellor and president.

“The action is tantamount to ‘cutting off USP students and staff legs at their knees’ and therefore their lifelines to coping with living in the current and post-covid environment.

“Not only will hundreds of families suffer, the quality of support and education for USP students in Fiji and the region will be seriously affected due to the domino effect of this decision.

“The question being asked is, why would the government use such strong arm tactics and punitive action to jeopardise the education of its youth who are their voters and the next generation of leaders when the USP’s supreme governing body of 12 regional states and development partners have spoken,” the letter said.

‘Mere pawns on political game’
“Rather than being treated as valuable citizenry, it appears that all are mere pawns
in a political game.

“The vice-chancellor and president is doing what every government, university, corporation and family business in the world needs to do to survive – reflect, redesign and reorganise.

To date, said the letter, no staff member had lost a job, no student had been refused admission – except for “mandated academic reasons” – and there had been an increase in student enrolments.

“The gravity of this decision and its implications require serious reflection on the basis of the decision and in-depth reconsideration by the Fiji government for the greater good of the students of Fiji and our Pacific `vuvale’ [canoe sail].”

Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has branded the Economy Minister’s suspension of Fiji’s grant to USP as “simply childish”, reports Fiji Village radio.

Chaudhry said it looked like Fiji wass on its own, “like a lone wolf crying foul”.

The FLP leader said he was concerned that students’ university education would be affected and it would also affect the reputation of USP.

Let me start by putting my education cards on the table. I think public money should fund public schools. If you want to have a private school that’s fine but do it with private money.

I also think that our current model of funding schools that came out of the Tomorrow’s Schools neoliberal “reforms” has resulted in rich public schools and poor public school and that’s just wrong.

OK – now to the decision announced by Associate Finance Minister and Green Party Leader James Shaw that a privately run Green School will get more than $11 million out of the $3 billion set aside for infrastructure in the covid-19 recovery fund.

• READ MORE: Shaw apologises for signing off on funding for ‘green’ private school

Politically this is an own goal.

If you go to the Greens Education Policy page you will read:

• State schools should be funded so they are not reliant on donations, fees, or fundraising;
• Public funding for private schools should be phased out and transferred to public schools; and
• Public-private partnerships should not be used for building or running schools.

To argue that the money for the Green School is not coming out of the Education Budget but the Covid-19 Recovery Programme fools no one.

Betrayal raises issue of trust
It’s clearly a betrayal of policy and raises the issue of trust. Can we trust what else is written on their website is actually their policy?

I note that National’s Nicola Willis has been quick to label it hypocrisy and I can’t say she is wrong. However Willis is also guilty of hypocrisy on this issue because you can’t be pro public funding of private schools and cry foul when it happens.

Chris Hipkins washing his Pontius Pilot hands in public with his nothing to-do-with-me statement, simply reveals Labour’s neoliberal heart is still beating.

Did Finance Minister Grant Robertson also disapprove of this funding of a private school. If so why did it see the light of day?

Should we have green sustainable learning in our education system ?

Hell yes!

Shovels ready for school gardens
But in the curriculum for every school. Many schools around the country have got their shovels ready to create school gardens for example. Eleven million dollars would go a long way to creating them.

As I see it, the Greens have been effective on the Climate Change and on Poverty fronts, but they have also made decisions that have left me genuinely puzzled – such as giving up their Question Time slots in Parliament to National, shrugging their shoulders over the Water Bottling issue and now financially supporting a private school.

One sure way to lose an election is to keep scoring own goals and this was a classic.

Bryan Bruce is an independent filmmaker and journalist. The Pacific Media Centre is publishing a series of occasional commentaries by him during the NZ election campaign.

Papua New Guinea has entered the third week of the eight-week election campaign before polling commences next month.

Unlike previous elections, this year’s campaign appears not as noisy as in the past.

Social media has played an important role in the campaign so far with political parties buying Facebook pages to launch their awareness messages.

Almost all the 15 political parties in PNG contesting the election now have a paid Facebook Page.

The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) has reportedly disseminated a lot of information about its polices and continues running social media ads.

One of the PNC’s major party platforms is the Free Education policy. As the ruling party, it has implemented and PNG has felt its impact since 2012.

Like any other government policy, the PNC free education policy has its weaknesses. In order to defend this policy, party leader and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said recently he wanted to make the PNC’s free education policy government policy so that future governments will continue implementing it.

‘Politically suicide’
In what looks like a counter attack, its rival Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party (THE) has issued a “politically suicidal” statement by party leader and Opposition Leader Don Polye saying it would scrap free education instead introduce a “compulsory and subsidised education” as it policy.

Polye went on to say that this policy would be a national policy if THE formed the next government, making it illegal for parents not to send children to school.

Firstly, THE party’s policy would make school compulsory, and secondly parents would need to pay from elementary to grade 12, but not at technical colleges and universities.

THE party wants government to take full responsibility to pay for develop the skills of those in tertiary institutions.

This policy sparked a response from Prime Minister O’Neill condemning the Opposition for developing “reckless policies” that could only set the country back, reverse development and undermine economic growth.

“This is the most reckless Opposition campaign to be seen in elections for a long time,” O’Neill said.

“These Opposition policies would hurt families, would see people miss out on education and have funding decisions taken away from the local level and returned to Waigani bureaucrats.

“How could anyone think that ending free education could be a good thing?

“Under our government, it does not matter if a family is rich or poor, urban or rural, we will make sure all of their children are able to attend school,” O’Neill said.

Some implications
Let us look at some of the implications of THE Party and PNC on their education polices, leaving aside other issues for a while.

Under PNC’s policy, there would be more children going to school because it is free to attend school from elementary to high school and perhaps colleges (some colleges are still paying fees this year at some colleges).

This will see an increase in the grades 8, 10 and 12 dropouts. These dropouts will add to the number of unemployed youths and unskilled laborers. After 10-20 years, there will be an increase in the number of school leavers compared with today.

This is a situation whereby students from well-off families may enroll further in private schools or take further studies abroad but this number is always a minority. PNC’s free education policy creates issues in the long-term but it may look good in a short-term.

THE party’s policy on education will put pressure on poor parents to firstly send their children to school or they be jailed for not sending and to pay their fees in full.

This is a harsh policy by THE party whereby parents would need more counselling on family planning as any child born must be educated by law and they have to meet the cost up to grade 12.

It is tough for parents but in the long-term it will benefit the country largely. Firstly, by concentrating on paying fees for higher education and colleges will ease parents of their financial burden.

Literate population
Secondly, compulsory education would produce a literate population and that is good for a developing country. Today, many young people are not going to school and are roaming the streets — even if it is free to go to school.

But when there is a law to force students to attend school, there will be no children on the street begging as we see today in cities like Port Moresby, Lae and Mount Hagen.

The PNC and THE party’s policies on education have both negative and positive implications.

The term or the phrase “free education policy” is in fact not proper because nothing is free, it would be better to say subsidised fees than to say free education.

Nothing is really free. It is not free to get educated, rather the government is using people’s tax money to subsidise the cost of education.

This confused phrase of free education is a brainchild of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM)  which led two governments under Paias Wingti and Sir Mekere Mourata as Prime Ministers who implemented this policy.

The policy was fully implemented during Sir Mekere’s term as Prime Minister in 2000.

Before the Bougainville war
Before the Bougainville civil war, tertiary education at the universities and colleges was fully subsided (students were also given monthly allowances) when Panguna mine was in operation.

But after the Bougainville conflict there was a new “user pay” policy so all the benefits of allowances and fully subsidised fees for tertiary studies were withdrawn and students had to pay for university and college education.

This means that Don Polye’s education policy will bring back the glory days prior to the Bougainville conflict when PNG enjoyed a fully subsided education at the tertiary level.

All in all, Peter O’Neill’s education policy is short-lived and may put pressure on the government budget to continue funding as the population increases each year.

Don Polye’s policy may look tough from the start but it is not a new policy in PNG to fully subsidise education at the tertiary studies. The new thing will be compulsory for every child in PNG to attend school.

For a country like PNG, we need a good policy on education and Don Polye’s policy will save Papua New Guinea for the years to come.

Peter O’Neill’s short-lived policy might mean Papua New Guinea would face social and unemployment problems and economic problems as the population increases.

Don Polye’s policy will also have an impact to control the population and I think this is a very good proposal for PNG.

It is my personal guess that Polye’s policy is what PNG needs and it speaks of more maturity than O’Neill’s, which lacks sustainability.

You decide which policy you need at the polls.

• PNG Electoral Commission updates

Through the jointly funded project with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and Tranzit Group, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) will add the 38-seat, plus standing, passenger bus to its fleet of shuttles operating between AUT’s three Auckland campuses.

Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack told AUT News that 2016 being the hottest year on record brought into focus the need to find more ways to address the human contribution to climate change.

“Putting a single electric bus on the road might be a humble step, but it signals AUT’s willingness to embrace technology, and work in partnership to help find solutions to the challenges faced by our city and beyond,” he said.

Discussions about building the bus are underway and it is hoped to have it in service in the first half of this year. It is likely that the chassis and EV components will be built in China and the body will be built in New Zealand.

The project was announced recently by Minister of Energy and Resources Judith Collins as part of EECA’s Low Emissions Vehicle Contestable Fund which aims to help accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles, helping to transform our fleet and reduce carbon emissions from road transport.

The trial will make it possible for AUT and Tranzit to study the battery technology and determine what infrastructure and expertise is required to run a large EV urban bus fleet in New Zealand.

“With significant investment in NZ urban bus fleets occurring, AUT and Tranzit findings will be shared with the transport industry in the hope that the uptake of large EVs in New Zealand is seen as a viable replacement to current diesel buses,” said Tranzit Group’s managing director Paul Snelgrove.

Building and operating the electric-powered bus is in line with several of AUT’s sustainability goals including those that cover demonstrating leadership, research and partnership, and operations.

Auckland City Harbour News reported that two electric buses were set to hit Auckland’s roads in a trial part-funded by the government.

Auckland Transport has been awarded up to $500,000 for the trial and about $300,000 for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Funding has also been provided to install 60 electric vehicle charging stations at parking facilities around Auckland.

Opposition MP Mika Leawere expressed his concern with the decision which comes just before students sit their final exams.

“Taxpayers of Fiji contribute towards Fiji being the biggest financial member state contributor of the University and this draconian policy lacks any humanity or wisdom given that Fiji and many students are still recovering from the devastation of TC Winston.

“While we accept that the University is an institution of higher education and is not a charitable organisation, surely an institution of academics can empathise with their students who are already stressed with exam preparations and now are further burdened with an inhumane policy that dashes all their hard work for the semester at the 11th hour.”

‘Unanimous decision’

In an interview with Fiji Broadcasting Corporation acting vice-chancellor, Professor Richard Coll, said the decision to de-register students who have not paid all fees in full was a unanimous decision by the USP Senate.

Coll said student’s debts are now very high and accumulating every year, and the University sees it critical that this is addressed.

FBC reported students have until Friday this week to pay outstanding fees.

Papua New Guinea’s long standing university student unrest is costing the country’s higher education sector financially, and is also damaging its international reputation.

Higher Education Secretary Prof David Kavanamur gave this verdict at the second departmental heads meeting today after students have been locked in an up to six-week protest over national politics, demanding that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill resign.

However, Kavanamur said the situation was not all bad.

He said the University of Natural Resource and Environment at Vudal “has been running academic programmes for two months now,” while both the Divine Word University and Pacific Adventist University “are intact”.

At the University of Goroka, Secretary Kavanamur said the students had been home for two weeks and the administration aimed to sort our their issues within that time.

Speaking about the situation at the University of Technology — before the latest attack last night killing a student and setting fire to several buildings in an unrelated issue —  Kavanamur said “full credit” to the vice-chancellor, Professor Albert Schram, for “holding the place together” despite tensions being high.

The government’s main concern now was the University of Papua New Guinea’s main campus of Waigani.

‘Running full swing’
However, Dr Schram said, the School of Medicine at the UPNG’s Taurama campus was “running full swing” along with the postgraduate programmes.

Kavanamur told the meeting that, for medical students, the unrest had meant those scheduled to graduate in 2017, would now be graduating in 2019 instead.

Another unfortunate consequence of the unrest is damage done on plans to attract more international students to the country, which Kavanamur described as a “major reputational risk” that needed to be addressed.

Apart from international reputation, the unrest had also put a financial drain on the higher education sector.

“Possibly K15 [NZ$6.6 million] to K20 million [NZ$8.9 million) already, that’s money that we could be spending on prioritised areas.”

He indicated that academically, drastic decisions might be made soon.

“We are coming to the end of that period whereby the academic senate will meet to decide on the tenability of the academic programme.”

Serah Aupong is an EMTV News reporter.