..five developments we’d like to see there

      By Tupuola Terry Tavita

 

Now that Cabinet has stepped in to resolve the exam controversy at the national university, the hard work is now with management and staff to reset exam papers and bring in students who missed out last week.

It can be argued that the debacle could have easily been resolved and the controversy at the exam rooms avoided. But it is done now and we have to move on.

However, there is a feeling that perhaps the university’s woes are not so much about money, which is always the bottom line, but a desperate need for new ideas.

So this column has come up with five exciting developments NUS can look into and perhaps help raise funds. It can certainly diversify what is currently on offer at the university and provide young people broader career opportunities.

These ideas are certainly worth exploring in the next ten years or so. In this age of regionalism, of course, it is important that we think regional instead of just focusing our national interest.

AVIATION SCHOOL

Most of our pilots and aircraft engineers are either sent to Nadi or the aviation school at Palmerston North, New Zealand.

But just a four minutes’ drive from the NUS campus is the Fagalii Airstrip where a pilot training center can easily be based at. An aircraft engineering workshop can be hosted at the NUS Institute of Technology alongside the automotive section.

There can also be training for specialized fields such as flight control and aviation navigation operations. Either the watchtower at Faleolo can be used for training or a mini-aerodrome can be built at Fagali’i.

Samoa already has four (and soon five at Aleipata) airports and airfields so there will be plenty of landing facilities that can be used for an aviation school.

Such a development certainly will cost money but the job opportunities, albeit well-paid, it offers to young people who may accelerate in this field are enormous. There is certainly a high demand for pilots and aircraft engineers not only in Samoa but across the region where air transport is the most convenient between islands.

We can always ask our Chinese friends for a couple of light aircrafts for pilot training. There will also be employment opportunity available at NUS for veteran pilots who wish to take up training retirement.

PERFORMING ARTS

This column is always impressed with the wave of Polynesian – particularly Samoan – stage artists and their quality work sweeping through New Zealand in recent years.

Oscar Kightley, John Fane, the Magasiva brothers, Madeleine Sami and Teuila Blakely have graduated from successful stage careers to the big and small screens. They are getting plenty of work and reportedly earning good coin.

Samoa has a wealth of performing talent but the problem has always been a dearth of training and opportunity to perform.

There was a bit of a revival a few years ago when New Zealand actor Fiona Collins served an academic residency at NUS. But since, there has been absolutely zip in terms of quality stage performances in the country.

However, word from NUS is that there will be a lineup of stage shows next year so hopefully that will eventuate.

This country, this column reckons, has reached a stage of intellectual maturity to really appreciate and embrace quality drama and stage performances. We probably also need that artistic engagement and comedic relief.

We also have a number of good venues where quality shows can be hosted. The new NUS fale at Le Papaigalagala campus and the Samoa Conference Center at Savalalo to name a couple. This is an excellent opportunity also to raise funds for the university.

The current boom in the film industry here also provides attractive employment opportunity for expressive arts students. Why do we need to rent Filipino and Korean soap operas when we can produce our own?

Come to think of it, performing on the stage is not new in Samoa. What of the White Sunday programmes that we all engage in every year?

IT SCHOOL

As government takes computer literacy and internet connectivity to the villages, this digital drive should also be reflected at the university level.

Primary school students are taking to computers and the internet like a duck to water, if we can borrow that phrase, under CSL’s e- rate programme. And it’s no big secret that qualified IT specialists and graphic designers are much in demand in the job market at the moment. Certainly more so than lawyers and, um, reporters. It’s a digital economy after all and every sector/professional fields should have IT units, if not already.

It is an expensive venture, but NUS should start looking at investing in a state-of-the-art IT center. Japanese and Chinese universities – countries Samoa has very active development partnerships with – are at the cutting edge of in-demand fields such as software development, graphic and website designing, computer animation, etc. It wouldn’t hurt to start approaching these universities and establish IT partnerships. Certainly government would be interested and ready to assist in facilitating these partnerships.

Our people are very intuitive as they are creative, and this is one field we can really excel in. We live in a digital world.

MARINE TRAINING CENTER

Now that both the Samoan and Chinese governments have approved the Marine Training Center campus to be built at Mulinu’u, it will open up a wealth of opportunity for NUS which operates it.

Not only will the Center offer training in the various fields of seamanship but also the well-paid officer level ranks. This will not only expand career opportunities for the thousands of post-high school students who graduate from the classrooms every year, but provide new revenue streams for the financially embattled university.

We need not tell of you the huge job market for sailors and officers in the region with the more employment opportunities created with the recent purchase by government of the Pacific Forum Line.

Recent government plans by government to relocate the Matautu wharf to the larger Vaiusu Bay, where the new Marine Training campus will be located, is ideal in not only expediting this venture but also providing hands-on experience for budding young sailors and officers.

 

LAW SCHOOL

Why do we continue to send our law students to Vanuatu?

A school of law at NUS is not a new idea. It’s been around for some years now.

And there’s no better place to learn about the legal conditions and ground realities in Samoa than to learn the law here. As society and development forges ahead, there will continue to be major legal and legislative ground shifts, thus, the continuing need for legal services. We have an abundance of veteran lawyers and judges in the country that can be employed as lecturers and law professors at NUS, so there is little difficulty in acquiring the necessary teaching personnel.

Perhaps also equally important is that government, and the public, need the critical views from a legal academic  fraternity when preparing public policy.

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