USP

Mr Aingimea has also declared that he will immediately seek the support of Council colleagues to call a special Council meeting as a matter of urgency.

Calling yesterday’s decision to stand down Vice Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia “a sad day in the history of this esteemed institution,” Mr Aingimea said, “the very individuals responsible for carrying out good governance have failed this great university.

BDO Auckland was engaged to investigate alleged corruption at the university.

According to the Islands Business, the USP Council said in a statement the BDO report had resulted in a "range of findings and recommendations that will need to be addressed to ensure the sound operation of the university".

However, the council did not say what the BDO's recommendations are.

The allegations were raised in a paper by the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, titled Issues, Concerns and Breaches of Past Management and Financial Decisions.

The terms of reference for the investigation have been drawn up and sent to University Council members for their approval.

In a statement, the university said once the terms are approved, the risk and audit committee will invite several independent investigators to register their interest.

The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption is conducting a separate investigation into the allegations, which were first reported by Islands Business last month.

This was made possible through a partnership signed between the University of the South Pacific and the Australian Government supported Australian Pacific Coalition at the Laucala Campus.

The partnership marks the first in a new approach APTC is taking to its engagement with TVET institutions and other partners across the region.

The forum was organised by Centre for Flexible Learning on 29 March, 2017 at the Laucala Campus in Suva.

The forum also focused on progress on Open Education initiatives and opportunities and ways to enhance OER use an application.

Open education is about access to educational opportunities, the practice of open learning and engagement with open scholarship, said Professor Derrick Armstrong, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation and International.

Four students are from Samoa, two from Tonga and one from Vanuatu.

There are 27 students from Fiji.

The other awardees are from Solomon Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Guyana, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Professor Derrick Armstrong, USP’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation and International said the ceremony is a very special one because of the record number of categories (49) and high achievers this year.  

Out of the total, 22 students are based at USP’s Emalus Campus while the rest 312 students are based at Laucala Campus.

The AAPS students were welcomed at USP’s Laucala Campus on 9^th March 2017.

Development Manager, Mr Iresh Lal wished the students well for their studies and told them that, “you being selected as a recipient of AAPS scholarship is an inspiring story itself.”

Mr Lal thanked the government of Australia for supporting the AAPS awards.

One of the issues was the formation of a Task Force that will look into the logistics of this bigger group meeting, such as confirming the list of invitees and determining the aims and objectives of the meeting.

The Task Force includes Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, University of the South Pacific, Asian Development Bank and Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association.

The CROP ICT WG is responsible for coordinating the different tasks undertaken by various players in the key areas in ICT.

A fully licensed training restaurant facility operated by USP’s Pacific Technical and Further Education (Pacific TAFE) and Australia - Pacific Technical College (APTC); the Pacific Fusion Restaurant facilitates training as part of phase two of the course each semester, which is the operation of morning tea and lunch services at the restaurant.

Both internal and external stakeholders have provided excellent feedback about the services provided by the Cookery and Hospitality students.

The MOU will establish a collaborative relationship by and among MORDI, USP, and Nishi Trading where the three institutions can exchange information to seek and implement programmes and activities of mutual interest.

The institutions specifically agreed to collaborate in the field of Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Climate Change, focusing on food security related research.

It will also focus on the effects of climate change on root and tuber crops such as sweet potato and developing growth and nutrient models to predict its yield as affected by drought.