SOLOMONS BENEFITED MUCH FROM USP: Dr SIKUA

Solomon Islands has benefited enormously from the University of the South Pacific (USP) for the past 47 years.

Minister of Education and Human Resources Development, Dr Derek Sikua highlighted this at the 47th Anniversary celebrations of the institution today, to which he was the guest of honour.

He says USP has met demands well, by producing graduates in a range of highly educational qualifications.

He says Solomon Islands has benefited from this enormously, in particular to the development of human capital. Mr Sikua says the Government will ensure this trend continues.

“Our country ladies and gentlemen has a very youthful population and approximately sixty percent are under the age of 25 years. This poses many challenges. But the Government is determined to work with the University of the South Pacific to provide pathways to enable as many of the youths to receive University level education.”

Meanwhile, Dr Sikua explains, the relocation of the fourth USP Campus from Doma was due to pressure from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Education Minister told local journalists, ADB has required evidence of tangible developments for the USP project.

But he says almost 30 months after the project agreement, there was still no visible tangible development at Doma.

“But then there was a lot of delays there was about a 20-months delay. Right now it’s almost 30-months delay. And ADB required the University to show what tangible plans it has to ensure how the funds will be used and it gave them until the end of last month, the end of July. With Doma, there was no tangible plan. So we moved to KG Sixth and ADB says okay, keep the loan for you. It’s like that, yes.”