A LOW number of academic staff members and shortage of accommodation for students are some of the major challenges identified by the vice-chancellor and president of the University of the South Pacific.
VC Professor Pal Ahluwalia said the current student to staff ratio stood at 80:1 however he said despite it the institution was producing some of the finest graduates.
Making a submission on the USP 2017 annual report before the Standing Committee on Social Affairs today Prof Ahluwalia said it was going to take the university about three years to become financially robust however their priority was to get more staff members.
The university management was also planning to look do a gender pay gap analysis to see what they could do to bridge the gap.
Meanwhile Prof Ahluwalia said the university’s partnership with New Zealand had benefited the institution in terms of financial support towards the university’s core budget which was teaching, learning and student services.
He said the partnership enabled USP to serve the Pacific region with ICT, research, education and regional integration services.
