Professor Pal Ahluwalia has been appointed the new vice chancellor and president of the University of the South Pacific. Photo: University of Portsmouth
The University of the South Pacific says New Zealand and Australia have reaffirmed their financial support to the regional institution.
Last week, Fiji suspended its grants to the USP.
New Zealand and Australia are also part of the university’s governing council.
Earlier this year, Australia announced it was with-holding its funding over allegations of mismanagement reported by Vice Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.
In June, Professor Ahluwalia was suspended by the USP executive committee over alleged malpractice.
But he was reinstated when the council found due process had not been followed.
“After my suspension, Australia wanted some guarantees. We’ve met all those triggers that they wanted. They met with us last week in our regular partnership meeting and they have assured us that they will release $FJ7m – and the $FJ3.5m that’s outstanding from them will be released in October. The uplift from New Zealand will be $FJ1.5m is what they told us.”
Source: RNZ
