Brain drain fears over Oz plan to fund Fiji students like locals

Canberra’s plan to subsidise Fijian students at Australian universities has stoked concern about loss of talent from the Pacific nation.

Australia has committed A$29 million (£15 million) to allow “select cohorts” of Fijians to attend Antipodean universities under the same conditions as domestic students. The promise is a little publicised feature of the Vuvale Union Treaty, which both countries signed in July.

Under the treaty, Australia is offering some A$1 billion in grants and loans to support Fijian infrastructure, economic diversification projects, policing and health training. The treaty requires approval from both country’s parliaments and is currently being scrutinised by parliamentary committees in Suva and Canberra.

The higher education element starts operating in 2029. Little has been revealed about how it will work, with the details expected to be outlined in a 10-year work plan.

The proposal has gone largely unnoticed in Australia, where international education is out of political favour. Prime minister Anthony Albanese did not mention it during addresses in Suva to mark the agreement, and foreign affairs minister Penny Wong likewise made no reference to it when she tabled the treaty in parliament.

By contrast, the higher education plan has attracted considerable attention in Fiji. But reaction has not been uniformly positive, with the head of Fiji’s higher education regulator warning of brain drain.

In comments reported by Fijian outlet FBC News, Higher Education Commission Fiji (HEC Fiji) director Eci Naisele said overseas study should be treated as an investment in national capability rather than an opportunity for individuals. He said the programme should be designed around Fiji’s skills shortages, rather than Australia’s, with mechanisms to lure participants home after graduation.

“This arrangement…provides important opportunities to invest in what we believe is Fiji’s strategic asset – the people, our very own people,” Naisele told Fiji’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Australia already relies on Fijian guest workers to buttress its labour force. The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (Palm) scheme allows Australian organisations to hire people from nine island nations, including Fiji, for up to four years in areas of skill shortage.

The Vuvale agreement includes commitments to open up more Palm scheme opportunities for Fijian aged care workers, an Australian parliamentary committee heard.

Jan Hutton, first assistant secretary for Pacific integration in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the agreement was a “multi-generational endeavour to integrate our economies, our security and our people”.

Together with the “Ocean of Peace” Alliance, which introduces a mutual defence obligation, the Vuvale Union represents “one of the most ambitious endeavours Australia has undertaken with any country”, Hutton told Australia’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

The alliance, the first for Fiji and fourth for Australia, is part of Canberra’s efforts to contain Chinese influence in the Pacific. “At a time of great uncertainty, risk and contestation, the…government recognises that Australia cannot afford to be a passive observer,” minister Wong told parliament. “Peace is never a given. We are using all tools of statecraft to invest in Pacific relationships, trust and regionalism.”

This aspect of the pact has also sparked concern in Fiji. Independent MP Virendra Lal grilled HEC Fiji director Naisele over whether the treaty could usher in constraints on Fijian research, according to the Fiji Sun.

“How will the Higher Education Commission ensure that…national security studies, defence research and academic publications in Fiji universities remain free from political interference, censorship or security vetting by foreign military partners?” Lal asked, during the Fijian committee’s hearing.

Naisele reportedly dodged the question, saying his mandate was “confined within the ambits of education and training”.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com