BY JARED KOLI
SERIOUSNESS of students at the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) towards their studies has led the University Senate and Senior Management Committee ‘not to let their efforts to go in vain.’
On Monday, the university announced that it permits students with outstanding fees to sit for their semester one final exams.
This was after a meeting held Thursday last week, where the committee rescinded its resolution of 26th May 2020, and endorsed new resolutions that will be applied to students with outstanding fees.
The new resolutions allowed students with outstanding fees to sit for the exam, however, their results will be withheld until all fees are fully paid.
In a statement responding to Island Sun yesterday, the Senate and Senior Management Committee said their ‘decision was based on students’ interest at heart.’
“Ever since we made the decision for students with outstanding fees not to attend final exams, some private sponsored students responded and came to pay their fees.
“Constituency sponsored students also came and pay their own fees as well, they don’t wait for their Member of Parliament (MP) anymore. That’s how serious the students think about their studies here at SINU,” the statement said.
Emphasizing on how students commit to the studies, SINU Senate and Senior Management said some students went on to organize fundraising to meet their outstanding fees.
“Some students, for example, all first-year nursing students, divided themselves into two huge groups and already made two fundraising towards their outstanding fees.”
It adds some of these students are MP sponsored but they are taking the initiative by themselves to settle their outstanding fees.
“With this, some students have paid up to 80 percent to 90 percent of their fees. They might not be able to completely pay their fees comes exam date. However, the management won’t let their efforts to go in vain. Hence, why the new resolution comes about,” it stated.
It adds reason why Distance Flexible Learning (DFL) students must pay their fees in full before sitting their exams is because they enrolled on unit bases, and they can afford it because it is cheaper compared to Face-to-Face students.
“For example, DFL students enrolled with two units at $600 per unit for each term, while a full-time nursing student cost $9000 for a semester.
“That is the reason why Senate Senior Management Committee made the decision for DFL students to continue with their normal practice of paying the full fee before sitting for exams,” the statement explains.
