VC maps out vision for USP

An aerial view of USP’s Laucala campus in Suva. Picture: SUPPLIED/USP

The University of the South Pacific has come a long way since the establishment of the Laucala campus in 1968. With a new vice-chancellor and president at the helm of the region’s premier institution, the University is undergoing a revision of its strategic plan as it strives to become the institution of choice in the region. Vice-chancellor and President Professor Pal Ahluwalia took time out of his busy schedule in March this year to speak to Wansolwara about his vision for USP.

Wansolwara: After some time on the job, what is your appraisal of the overall situation at USP?

Prof Ahluwalia: After three months, I can say that USP is a very resilient institution. It’s been here for 50 years and every administration always sees new issues and things when they look at it, so I’m also seeing those. At the same time, I’m so happy that the students are getting quality education and that we are moving forward. I think the next few years are going to be exciting as we really try to improve the quality of the services and the things we provide to our students. We are really keen that students have an exceptional student experience when they are here.

Wansolwara: It is understood management is in the process of revising the strategic plan. Can you elaborate on key areas earmarked for changes or improvement in the current strategic plan?

Prof Ahluwalia: There was a strategic plan that the council approved last November but the council also gave me some latitude to revise it so they knew that when a new vice-chancellor comes in, he or she, in this case me, will have an opportunity to put our vision into the institution so that I would have a say on the things that should happen and what I thought the priorities were. So we decided, we would not fundamentally change the plan as so much effort has gone into it by the people who had worked on it. So part of that was for me to articulate vision, mission and values but what we have also done is made it very focused on students.

The first priority area would be focused on education and really try to work out how we help and measure students’ success. The second is on research, innovation and internationalisation. The third is all about our regional campuses and the importance of our regional campuses. The fourth is our role as a corporate agency and the fifth is about our enabling strategies which are finance, human resource, estates and governance, all the things that make up marketing.

All the things that help with the core business here at the university and the core business is education and research and innovation. So that’s how the new plan is structured. There used to be eight priority areas. We have reduced them to five, made it simple and very clear about what the focus areas of the university are.

Wansolwara: What is the progress on some of the major capital development works that are underway or might be in the pipeline?

Prof Ahluwalia: One of the big projects coming up is the Solomon Islands campus. You will see this in the draft, the commitment to build the Solomon Islands campus is there but there are lot of other things we are looking at and there are some things that we are rethinking.

For example, we are completely maxed out in the amount of borrowing we can do, so we have to probably scale back some things, like we would not be able to build the 12th hall very quickly.

We have to probably build it in stages. We will build it in four stages so we will not build it all in one stage. We are also aware that there are a lot of accommodations available around campus and we do not want to be in situations where that is lacking, where the university cannot fill its own spaces. So we are working on a number of strategies but the paramount interest is that the students find good, affordable housing and that they are accommodated in a safe environment.

Wansolwara: Professor Pal, can you elaborate specifically on the Solomon Islands campus project?

Prof Ahluwalia: There was a groundbreaking ceremony, the sites had been identified, but there were real issues before I came such as the issuing of the tender and contracting. Asian Development Bank, the people loaning us the money to build the campus weren’t happy with the tender process. So the cost has really escalated. We’re relooking at the entire business case. This was done almost four years ago, and to make sure it makes sense. We hope that everything will be done by May.

Wansolwara: Is there anything planned for neglected areas at Laucala campus such as the USP gym and dining hall that are intensively used but haven’t been maintained, if not, for decades?

Prof Ahluwalia: I was at the dining hall recently with the USP commercial director and I told him that we should do some work on changing the tables and chairs, so I would expect there will be a change on this. I did go to the swimming pool one day and had a swim and I said there has to be some changes in the swimming pool area as well. I wanted it painted, looking smarter. These are not really expensive things. I want the students to have the best facilities. A lot of things should have been done before I came, so right now we’re trying to deal with it slowly. We can’t build everything in a day.

Wansolwara: How healthy and sustainable is USP financially, in terms of meeting the needs fully, infrastructural wise, resources, and learning and teaching?

Prof Ahluwalia: On the learning and teaching front, I am very happy. I think we have the resources, we’ve prioritised that. But I think our financial situation is not the best, it’s adequate. We’ve also differed a lot of maintenance, which means we’ve got a lot of issues with fixing up things, and that is something we’re now really intensively planning on doing. Some of our regional campuses like the Solomon Islands are in critical condition, so we need to fix those things, but there are other campuses which also needs investments, like Alafua. There is only a fixed amount of money, and it’s how we distribute the money and how we make sure we maintain the estate we have.

If we don’t invest in it, it keeps getting worse. So it’s clearly imperative that we have to invest. It’s what speed and at what rate we can do that, the critical word we use is sustainable.

We have to do it in a sustainable way. We can’t afford to go on a spending spree, and say we’ll fix everything and then say, ‘Oh hell, we don’t have any money’. So we have to be very mindful of what we’re doing. I have only just inherited things. It’s my job to try and fix it, and so I’m asking my students to recognise that and we will work together to fix these things.

Wansolwara: What is USP’s academic-professional staff ratio, and what is your position on this?

Prof Ahluwalia: That’s a good question. We have some very good academic staff, but we need more academic staff. I don’t know the exact teacher to students ratio but I think it’s close to 4:1, roughly. It might be less than that. But then again we have 14 campuses in 12 countries. As soon as you have multiple countries you need a lot more staff. You need everything, from finance to marketing to management, you’ll need staff and all sorts of people will have to be involved. So necessarily, we’ll need a lot more staff. We also need to be very mindful that we’re one of the major employers of people in the country where we operate, particularly Fiji. But the commitment we’ve made is that we must hire more staff because that will make a difference to the learning experience here in Fiji.

Prof Ahluwalia: That’s a good question. We have some very good academic staff, but we need more academic staff. I don’t know the exact teacher to students ratio but I think it’s close to 4:1, roughly. It might be less than that. But then again we have 14 campuses in 12 countries. As soon as you have multiple countries you need a lot more staff. You need everything, from finance to marketing to management, you’ll need staff and all sorts of people will have to be involved. So necessarily, we’ll need a lot more staff. We also need to be very mindful that we’re one of the major employers of people in the country where we operate, particularly Fiji. But the commitment we’ve made is that we must hire more staff because that will make a difference to the learning experience here in Fiji.

Wansolwara: During International Women’s Day, you shared a message about the need to look into research on USP’s gender pay gap or if such an issue existed. Can you elaborate on what you meant by this?
Prof Ahluwalia: I don’t know if there is a gender pay gap. That is something we need to look at because I wouldn’t want to see a gender pay gap. Generally, males and females are roughly equal in the University which was really pleasing to me, but what I wasn’t clear of is how many senior women were working in academic positions, how many were not and that’s where you look at the gender pay gap, and the gender pay gap is really to see if men and women are paid the same for the same job. So that’s what I had concern for. I don’t have that information, but I wouldn’t want a gender pay gap, this is the point I was trying to make.

Wansolwara: There are reports of increased and brazen incidences of theft and burglary on Laucala campus. What is being done to address this?

Prof Ahluwalia: I’ve been told that this is because of our open policy where we’ve allowed people from all communities to come and use our sports facilities. When we open our doors to the outside, that happens. It’s natural, a lot of people come inside campus and we don’t have a lot of control over that. The vice president for regional campus properties and infrastructure, Dr Giulio Paunga, is really looking at this. They’ve tried to put more resources in on those days when people who we don’t know are on campus.
But I think it’s also really important to all of us to be vigilant. We have to act like a neighbourhood watch ourselves, so if we see something suspicious, I think we should pick up the phone and we should do whatever we can to contact security immediately because that is the only way we can protect each other from this issue.

Wansolwara: Any other comment regarding USP’s overall operations and the way forward?

Prof Ahluwalia: Yes. I’ve mentioned earlier, I think there are some fantastic things in this University. There are things that we need to change.
There are things we need to do smarter because we have to free up resources so that we can invest in more academic staff, and invest in more things that are going to benefit our students. So those are my priorities. If you see the new draft strategic plan, you’ll see that the emphasis is all on our students.

*Compiled by final-year journalism students – EPARAMA WARUA, ROSALIE NONGEBATU, SEREANA SALALO, SHAZLEEN BANO, DIVISHA DEEPTI, SHARON NANAU, BERENADETA NAGATALEVU, KIRISITIANA ULUWAI and PRIYA CHAND

*The original article was published in Wansolwara‘s 2019 print issue 1.