Financial crisis no more

Elenoa Baselala
The Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT) was under the media spotlight for some time last year for all the wrong reasons.

Experiencing a financial crisis, which affected its operations including the completion of its hospitality campus, the institution has bounced back.

Its new director, Doctor Ganesh Chand, who comes with a lot of experienceŃformerly a lecturer at the University of the South Pacific then University of FijiŃis excited about the coming months and years.

“We ran short of money to run our operations...there was no money to complete the construction of the hospitality and aviation campus in Nadi.

“So with significant streamlining and cost cutting as well as reforming the structure of FIT, we introduced a trimester system of academic delivery, which means that we now have three trimesters, two semesters and five blocks.

“Different programmes run on different basis so students can have the option of enrolling at any time of the year.

“And, of course, if students can enrol right throughout the year, that can increase our revenue base.

“With a more flexible enrolment, more students will come in and we will see by June when the second trimester begins whether this has worked.

“A faculty structure has also been introduced reducing the duplication of activitiesŃthere were a lot of duplication of activities.

“All these have raised the profile of FIT and they are showing very good results so far. I am very happy and the management is happy too.”

Due to lack of funds, FIT has not been able to develop student facilities for the last 15 to 20 years, except for the construction of a toilet block.

This is changing with the completion of a computer lab housing 200 computers and the soon-to-begin construction of a cafeteria and lecture theatre.

“FIT students in the Suva campus do not really have anywhere to sit and study when they don’t have classes. They sit under trees and almost everywhere. We are also building a sandwich bar where they can hang around.

“This will be done through a public private partnership, with the private sector building it, operating it and after some time it will be transferred to FIT.

Labasa campus is also being expanded into a full-scale operation by next year.

This means consolidating all facilities in one location and offering most of the programmes offered in the Suva campus in Labasa.

More exciting of all these plans and perhaps very optimistic is the proposal to build a training hotel for its hospitality students.

“It is my intention as directorŃthis has not been put to the council yetŃto build small training hotels with provincial councils.

“These training hotels would be built in various provinces by the provinces and would be run by FIT with our hospitality students working in it, getting a hands-on experience.

“We are keen on that and it is a win-win situation for all, we will share the revenues with the provinces.

“Our proposal, which we will begin to write this year will contain how we are going to find the capital and all that.

“There are many more projects. We are going up, way up. We have a good team on board.”
In the not so near future, FIT will also start to offer horticultural courses, depending on the successful negotiation of a piece of land.

Its fisheries programme will also be expanded soon to include processing, packaging and a proposal is in the pipeline to start a beche-de-mer farm in Vanua Levu.

Another exciting project is the introduction of a programme on renewable energy.

Chand says this would depend on the industry needs but the plan is to offer certificate, diploma courses in renewable energy by next year.

A workshop this month with industry stakeholders will determine what sort of courses FIT will offer.

“We don’t have much money, we don’t receive much money from the government. But if we receive half of what the University of the South Pacific gets from government, we will do so much more.

“But we are happy that one of the things the higher education board will look at this year is government funding to tertiary institutions.

“We want to be a centre of excellence not only in Fiji but in the region as well. We want the regional students to come and complete their studies here. They can do their certificate programmes in their home countries and come to Fiji to do their diplomas. We are also having talks with universities in New Zealand and Australia on providing degree programmes.

“We are also offering degree programmesŃ in cases people don’t  knowŃin applied science, engineering and we had a graduate in architecture last month.

“Instead of going to New Zealand and Australia, regional countries can send their students here at a significantly cheaper cost.

“FIT has matured significantly. We have changed...we will provide pathways for students...we will provide entry and exit points.

“We urge the region to come to us, we have some of the best facilities to offer.”