NUS students can look foward to new facilities with everything goes according to plan

 

By Tupuola Terry Tavita

By this time next year, the National University at Le Papaigalagala will have – if everything goes according to plan – a Samoan cultural center.

The center, Vice-Chancellor Leapai Professor Asofou So’o says, is included in the NUS development plan already adopted by the University’s senate.

“And it’s part of the long-term plan to build new infrastructure to meet the growing number of students.,�? said Leapai.

Student body, he said, now numbers over 3000. “The University’s Samoan studies are rapidly growing.

“And the cultural center is a priority project which we hope to complete in a year’s time. We have to create new courses and new revenue streams for the university. We also have to continue diversifying the courses we are offering.

“The cultural center is critical to the university’s push in developing the performing arts. Every year, we have a New Zealand artist in-residence for thre months vunder a continuing programme with Creative New Zealand. It has been a tremendous help to us.

This year we have the very talented Lemi Ponifasio who is a leading dancer and dance choreographer in New Zealand. The performing arts is his cup of tea. Our young people, I need not tell you, have hugestage potential. It comes naturally to us.�?

Leapai said that the Samoan public is ready to embrace stage dance and theater. The recent inter-school drama and performing arts competition during the Teuila Festival – watched by packed-out crowds – is evident of that support. It was widely hailed as the highlight of the festival.

LIBRARY
After building the proposed cultural center, Leapai said the university will be looking to build a larger library and perhaps, a student services block.

“The library we have right now is very small. It has been that way for some years now. This while student numbers continue to grow. We also need space to store the university’s archival materials.

It’s a priority for us at the moment to build a bigger library.

“We also need a student services building for things like enrollment, student counseling and such. The university hallways get filled up with students lining up for those services right now. It’s not conducive for such an important purpose.�?

“There is also a need for a bigger cafeteria. Perhaps two to give students and staff an option.  Information Technology is a major sector in modern science and we need to build a state-of-the-art IT block. Everything we do today, every manner of field we pursue, involves IT.�?

“Enrollment has almost doubled every year and we need to invest in these facilities to accommodate our growth.�?

Leapai added that while NUS is appreciative of the annual of $10 million grant from government, it is really a drop in the bucket in funding the university’s operations and what it needs.

“A conservative estimate puts a student’s education cost here at the university at $14,000 a year. Now you make the calculations with the 3000-plus students we have at the moment. There is no way that tuition and the government grant can cover our operating costs. But we understand that government also has other priority areas. The point I’m trying to get across is, people should understand that running a good university soaks up a lot of resources that we don’t have at the moment. There is also a whole lot the university needs as it continues to expand.�?

Leapai said that Treasury has informed the university that they would be willing to fund – or seek a funder – for all the facilities that the university needs in a one-off package assistance.

“And the university is willing to take it up. Because we desperately need that lift in infrastructure.�?

But meanwhile, he said, the university is playing it by ear and going about its developments using ‘Samoan ingenuity’.

‘If we can save a bit of money at the end of the financial year, then we build a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The NUS fale after all was built through a loan from UTOS.�?

SPACE
But the university is also running out of space.

“We have had to move our finance department to one of the university’s residences because there is simply no space in the administration bloc for them.

“The issue of a campus in Savaii was raised in Parliament. I think it’s a relevant issue in terms of the need to take university courses to residents in Savaii instead of coming all the way here.

“But perhaps that is a long term plan to be looked at in the future. A more pressing one is the need for space here at Le Papaigala. We are now just about saturated for space.�?

The university – he said – only occupies about 14 acres of land up there.

“We are looking at perhaps offering business courses using a facility in Apia. We have spoken to the SNPF management – as there is a floor available in that building – but the cost we have been given is a major obstacle for us.

“The university is also keen to develop a school of agriculture and we need substantial land for that purpose.�?

Leapai revealed that the university is in talks with Samoa Land Corp for possible land at Vaitele or Falelauniu.

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