The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Student Council is delighted with the reappointment of Professor Pal Ahluwalia to the position of the Vice-Chancellor and President (VCP).
Prof Ahluwalia was reappointed during the 96th meeting of the USP Council today.
The Student Council was represented at the meeting by President Lepani Naqarase and Vice-President Ishmael Aitorea.
Naqarase said the USPSA recognises the governance processes of the University and fully supports the consensus based decision made by the USP Council.
“The USPSA has witnessed the leadership of Professor Ahluwalia firsthand, not only at Student Council meetings, but in everything that he does.”
“He has always placed students welfare first before making decisions and is the only Vice-Chancellor in USP’s history who has truly served the region by staying and working from different member countries (Fiji, Nauru and Samoa) for the last few years despite the challenges.”
“This shows that Professor Ahluwalia has a deeper understanding of how campuses in 3 sub-regions of the Pacific operate on a day-day basis, firsthand.”
Naqarase said they also recognise that there are differing and strong views amongst members of the staff and USPSA understands that these can be resolved via dialogue with the USP Management to ensure that disruption to student services do not occur as the main goal of any University is to serve its students.
“We are confident that the staff unions and the USP Management will come to an understanding soon for the sake of our region’s future.”
“The Student Council looks forward to continue working with Professor Ahluwalia and his Senior Management team and the Staff Unions in fully supporting the University’s role of Shaping Pacific Futures.”
