Dear Editor

I share the view expressed by Jack Maebuta. The establishment of a fourth USP campus or an expansion of its extension centre need not be at the expense of plans to set up a national university. We can have both.

As a high school student in the 1980s I heard rumours that our government turned down an application by the SDA Church to set up its university in Solomon Islands. The argument was that the proposed university would adversely impact on government plans for SICHE. PNG granted the Church's application and the Pacific Adventist University was established there (to add to its many other tertiary institutions). We, as a country, spend large sums of money annually sending our students to PAU.

I don't understand the fear of having multiple national and international tertiary institutions in the country. Having these institutions literally in our backyard and accessible to our local student population must be good for the country.