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8 August, 2008
Vodafone Signs MOU with FIT for Vodascholars
8th August, 2008
Vodafone Fiji Limited today announced 25 more scholarships as part of the 40 scholarships worth around $0.5 million dollars. Last month the company signed and MOU with USP to provide 15 scholarships for degree programs in IT, Computer Science and Technology from 2009 for a period of three years.
The signing of the MOU with Fiji Institute of Technology will see 25 students receive funding assistance to undertake diploma courses at FIT. The scholarships will cover tuition and books fees for the duration of the program.
The scholarships are open to students who attain very good grades/marks in their form 7 or foundation courses and whose parent’s joint income does not exceed $20,000 per annum. The scholarships are designed to assist the financially disadvantaged students.
Once selected for the scholarships, the continuation of the scholarship from semester to semester is also performance driven ie the student must achieve a minimum GPA/grade to continue to be part of the award. This is to ensure that students value the award and complete the whole program and not drop out half way which would be a waste of resources.
When asked about the scholarship, the Manager Corporate Affairs of Vodafone Fiji Mr Shailendra Prasad said, “we recognize the need to support the many parents who are struggling to meet the educational needs of their children”.
Education is key to a improved productivity and economic prosperity for Fiji.
There has been continuous highlighting by the media of parents not being able to send their children to schools because of the very difficult economic environment. As company, we thought that this is an area where Vodafone could make a very positive contribution by investing in the education and future of our youth. There are many intelligent kids who are deprived of tertiary education because of financial constraints.
Vodafone is a majority locally owned company. The people of Fiji own 51% o Vodafone through FNPF’s investment in the ATH. Majority of our profits are retained and re-invested in Fiji for the benefit of Fijian Islanders.
Provision of these scholarships is way of saying thank you to the many parents, students and the general public of Fiji who have been our loyal customers over the years. The signing of the MOU with FIT is part of our $0.5 million dollars worth of scholarship announced last month as part of our 14th birthday celebrations.
Vodafone is committed to the development of Fiji through the provision of most up-to-date and latest mobile telephony and mobile data solutions. The scholarships are a way of reciprocating the faith and loyalty of our customers to our business.
Education is the most precious gift that can be given to children, and we are proud that as a company we are able to provide this through this financial assistance to FIT”, said Mr Prasad
We believe very strongly in education and training and encourage personal growth and development,” said Mr Raj Deo, the Chief Acting MD of Vodafone Fiji. Development and investment in the human capital is the only way to maintain a competitive advantage for your business in a global environment.
“Many of own staff have been offered scholarship to pursue courses at various institutions both locally and abroad. One of our own staff who started as customer care rep now holds the position of Manager Value Added Services portfolio in the company having completed his Master degree through a scholarship offered by the company.
The scholarships are tenable from semester one of 2009. The early announcement of the scholarships gives the students a fair chance to compete for the 25 places available at FIT. They have been given ample notice to put in their best efforts towards winning these scholarships. The 40 (USP 15 and FIT 25) scholarship are now a ray of hope to the many parents whose children would otherwise miss out on tertiary education.
Vodafone is privileged to be able to offer these scholarships to recognize the many hard working and intelligent kids who deserve this opportunity. We are committed to the future of Fiji and these 40 scholarships are our investment in the development of the human resources of the country.
After the signing of the MoU, the Director of FIT, Dr Ganesh Chand said, “We highly appreciate and value the support of Vodafone Fiji Limited to the education sector. Vodafone is a world leader in mobile telecommunications, and we believe that the scholarship program not only encourages talented young Fijians to excel in their studies but also open up new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation between USP and Vodafone".
“The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is a growth industry and hold great potential for Fiji. With government’s intention to revive the ICT project, this would part of the human resource capacity building and most timely assistance to the sector”, said Mr Chand.
The Head of School of Engineering Mr Semi Rokocakau said, “this is the most generous assistance and most timely assistance. We have students who are not able to pay the fees come to our office begging us to let them complete their studies. It is very emotional and psychologically draining experience to say no to these students because we need money to run the institution. Therefore these scholarships are most timely”,he said.
Through these funding assistance, USP together with Vodafone aims to cultivate and foster highly skilled and talented students for Fiji’s workforce.
About Vodafone Fiji:
Vodafone Fiji Limited is part of Vodafone Group Plc, a leading mobile communications company with over 330 million proportionate customers worldwide. Vodafone Fiji which is a partnership with ATH Group and provides mobile telecommunications services to 600,000 Fiji customers. The global company has equity interests in 26 countries and partner networks in a further 33 countries, the largest global footprint.