University of the South Pacific: Staff issues unsorted 'for over three years'

The University of the South Pacific appears to be in a state of disunity with many estranged staff expressing dissatisfaction with the leadership of the university's vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

During the 96th USP Council meeting on 27 and 28 November, over a hundred staff participated in a protest at the USP's main Laucala campus in Suva to vent their frustrations.

They allege poor management and are demanding a salary adjustment, as well as a non-renewal of Professor Ahluwalia's contract.

USP Staff Union president Elizabeth Fong told RNZ Pacific the protest had been sparked after a paper of grievances they submitted was not included in the Council's meeting.

"They decided that the staff paper would not be on the agenda and that is why this gathering of unity of amongst staff took place…to show our disdain for staff voices not being heard," Fong said.

"They said these issues should be sorted within the university, but these issues haven't been sorted for over three years.

"The financials haven't been solved so we had no other course of action to take except to go to the university council."

Since its inception in 1968, the University of the South Pacific has served as an education hub for the region.

Its produced prime ministers for six countries: Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Nauru and Tuvalu.

The University is hailed as a truly multinational university, with close to 30,000 students enrolled at USP campuses across 12 countries.

Earlier this week, Fiji's former infrastructure minister and USP alumni Jone Usamate issued a video statement expressing his concern with the division.

"I was looking at the USP's annual report for 2021 and I see there's a decline in the number of students going to USP," Usamate said.

"Personally, I hope this is just a temporary aberration and not a trend, as a former USP student I want to see the USP does well and continues to grow."

Further irritating the staff union was a decision by the 96th USP Council meeting to renew Professors Ahluwalia's contract.

In a statement to RNZ Pacific last week, the USP stated its management "continues to work with the staff unions regarding their grievances".

So far, Professor Ahluwalia has not publicly responded to the protest and maintains the support of the USP Students' Association.

"We support and stand by the decision of the USP Council," student association general-secretary Emosi Vakarua told RNZ Pacific.

"We would like to ensure that a student has a safe and enjoyable journey whilst at the University of the South Pacific."

Professor Ahluwalia was appointed vice-chancellor and president in 2018 and only returned from Samoa in February this year where he led the university in exile.

In 2021, he was deported to Australia by the FijiFirst government after he authored a report alleging financial irregularities under his predecessor, late Professor Rajesh Chandra.

Professor Ahluwalia's deportation provoked outrage among many, including Fong, who publicly condemned the decision at the time.

She was among the most vocal critics of the Government's treatment of Ahluwalia.

"We welcomed him when he was treated unjustly," Fong said.

"As a Union, we stand up for workers and we saw him as a worker, and we stood up for him so there's disappointment on a number of fronts.

"The staff are frustrated and demoralised by the failure to negotiate in good faith our log of claims in terms of the salary adjustments, failures to recruit and repay staff.

"Vacancies have increased, the workloads have increased and it's affecting the health of staff," she added.

Hope for solution

Fiji Deputy Prime Minister and a former economics professor at USP, Biman Prasad, expressed his concern to media.

However, he was optimistic about reconciliation.

"Whatever grievances the USP staff have, we would urge them to work with the management and the Council to resolve it," Prasad said.

"I'm sure those issues will be resolved."

Another issue raised by protestors was the lack of female representation.

Fong said that there was only one female professor at the university.

"We are in the worst state ever in terms of female representation at the leadership level. We only have one female professor," she said.

"We don't believe that [Professor Ahluwalia] facilitates women moving up the line…that's something that a VC can look at.

"He has the power to make those kind of decisions…instead of making it go through to the University Research Committee to have a discussion on it,

"He's not addressing these issues with the kind of commitment and strength that we want."

RNZ Pacific's attempts to speak to Professor Ahluwalia on this issue have been unsuccessful.