THE most precious asset in this country is her people.
That is the firm belief of Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS) newly appointed chief executive officer Dr Apisalome Movono, whose team is are now working to strengthen the institution’s systems in various areas in the immediate term.
While noting that systems are inherited in similar institutions, he said they were looking at the entire TSLS systems, identifying the gaps and working to improve the synergies between systems.
He said when the systems within TSLS worked well, they would deliver better outcomes.
“We want to be able to facilitate and promote studies that will meet the current and future demands of our country,” Dr Movono said in an interview with The Fiji Times.
“An investment in our students is an investment in the future development and prosperity of this country.
“I firmly believe that the most precious asset in this beloved country of ours are our people, and if our people are not encouraged to upskill and to be educated, then, you know it’ll go the way of other countries who have not invested in their people.
“And we’re fortunate that the Government of the day also values that and is investing quite significantly in training,” he said.
Dr Movono said changes that they would implement would all be evidence-based – based on reports, and data from internal and external research that had been done .
Citing raw data from proceedings of the first Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) meeting at Draiba, Suva in 1875, he said they had sufficient evidence in terms of what the people needed, where their development was at the moment, and where they were going.
“The changes that come will be based on evidence, need, and in alignment (with the priorities set out in the National Development Plan – NDP).
“It’s a deliberate leadership philosophy that leans on evidence, that leans on demands of the country, now and into the future. That will inform the changes that will come.”
Dr Movono said in terms of their alignment to the Constitution, the NDP and their mandate, “we should be more facilitative, more responsive to the demands of the market and our people, and the job for the CEO and his team is to find a way to work within the bounds of the law to open up these doors”.
The TSLS has 15 scholarship schemes, and it issued more than 22,000 scholarships last year, including including grants for local and overseas studies.
He said they were looking to cater for the same number or more this year.
TSLS has more than 50 staff members nationwide – SUva, Lautoka, Nadi and Labasa.
