By Samisoni Pareti in Suva
The governing body of the University of the South Pacific has put a stop to a long and bitter campaign by the Fiji government to get rid of vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.
With the strong leadership of Tonga and Samoa, the council voted to:
Issue a new contract for the vice-chancellor’s position to Professor Pal Ahluwalia
Relocate the VC’s office from the university’s main campus in Suva, Fiji, to the USP’s Alafua Campus in Apia, Samoa; and
Stipulate that VC Ahluwalia’s contract be a three-year term.
Fiji’s five representatives to the council were led by its Solicitor-General Sharvada Nand Sharma in place of Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (who was attending a virtual session of the Fiji Parliament), and Education Permanent Secretary Dr Angeela Jokhan (who was until last year a senior academic at the USP).
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Professor Biman Prasad
20 February, 2021, 7:30 pm
University of the South Pacific vice chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia congratulates graduates after the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education graduation at the FMF Gymnasium in Laucala Bay, Suva on Thursday, March 21, 2019. Picture: JONACANI LALAKOBAU
The whistleblowing vice-chancellor at the University of the South Pacific (USP), Professor Pal Ahluwalia, has described the illegal deportation of he and his wife, Sandra Price, as a “surreal” experience.
Many would agree that the inhumane and immoral deportation has plunged the tertiary institution into the biggest crisis of its 50-plus-year history.
The ensuing standoff between USP host country Fiji and the university governing body, the USP Council, has put the institution’s funding at risk, and its future in jeopardy. In another surreal episode, Fiji’s Prime Minister and Immigration Minister, Frank Bainimarama, chose to airily downplay the situation, appare
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