The Fiji Higher Education Commission (HEC) has raised concerns about the absence of legislation governing student recruitment agencies, warning that the gap has left some Fijian students studying overseas exposed to welfare and protection risks.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Justice, Law, and Human Rights yesterday, HEC director Dr Eci Naisele said overseas institutions were recruiting students from Fiji through local agents without proper agreements or safeguards in place.
“These are actually to do with the institutions overseas — they are coming into Fiji, they identify an agent and then they connect with the agent without any kind of MOU with them,” Dr Naisele said.
He said the lack of formal arrangements had resulted in students travelling abroad without assurances around welfare, accommodation or learning conditions.
“The sad thing, when they reach there, the agent doesn’t have any agreement with the universities for the welfare of our students.”
Dr Naisele said the commission had received students’ complaints relating to poor facilities and living conditions.
“We would love to ensure there’s some legislation requirement in place to ensure they safeguard our people.”
The committee also heard submissions from HEC compliance and monitoring officer Neha Prasad, who raised broader concerns about the commission’s enforcement powers under the existing legal framework.
Mrs Prasad said while the commission had regulatory and accreditation responsibilities, it relied on other agencies such as the police or courts to act against non-compliant institutions, resulting in delays.
She said institutions that breached accreditation standards or misrepresents qualifications could continue operating until another authority intervened and recommended that the commission be empowered to initiate legal proceedings directly.
Also mentioned is the growing role of micro-qualifications, with short courses falling outside the scope of existing legislation, Mrs Prasad said.
She said the commission recommended that micro-qualifications be recognised within the Fiji Qualifications Framework and brought under HEC’s regulatory authority to ensure quality assurance and consistency.
