USP Students Council Welcomes the re-appointment of the Vice Chancellor

Apia, Samoa – 29 November 2023: The Student Council of the University of the South Pacific has welcomed the reappointment of Professor Pal Ahluwalia to the position of the Vice-Chancellor and President (VCP) by the 96th USP Council yesterday.

The Student Council was represented at the USP Council meeting by the President, Mr Lepani Naqarase and Vice-President, Mr Ishmael Aitorea. USPSA recognises the governance processes of the University and fully supports the consensus based decision made by the USP Council.

The Students Association has always had a healthy working relationship with Professor Ahluwalia and deeply value Professor Ahluwalia’s open door policy which has resulted in both, the USPSA and USP Management resolving several pending issues of the past related to student experience and learning & teaching together.

Professor Ahluwalia has attended all Student Council meetings since his appointment as VCP where our student leaders from 14 campuses across 12 member countries have had the opportunity to directly speak with him in a very open and transparent manner. No other VCP has done this before and this speaks volumes about the commitment to the students.

Official Photo in-front of the USPSA headquarters with the 26th Chancellor of USP & Head of State of the Independent State of Samoa His Highness Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II with the Pro-Chancellor of USP, Hon. Dr. Hilda Hiene; the Vice-Chancellor & President Prof. Pal Ahluwalia; Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Vice-President Prof. Jito Vanualailai; USP Senior Management; Acting USPSA President Mr. Lepani Naqarase and Deputy Secretary General Mr. Aneet Kumar.

In congratulating Professor Ahluwalia on his reappointment, the Student President, Mr Lepani Naqarase stated that, “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, first hand.”

The Students Council also recognises 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.