Where Foreign Aid Works

NUS Registrar Moananu Tyrone Malaesaili Laurenson. Photo: Scott Whitney

In Samoa, economic development and education are one and the same. There's no better example of the country turning policy into reality than Le Iuniversite Aoao o Samoa, the National University of Samoa, an impressive institution that has become a magnet for foreign aid and the nation's aspirations.

The NUS campus, on the outskirts of Apia, was built with substantial bi-lateral aid from Japan. While many in the region predicted the campus would deteriorate after it was completed, those predictions have not come true and the campus is well groomed and well maintained.

In fact, aid from Japan continues, and could play a key role in the university's next major expansion. NUS is planning to merge over the next few years with the Polytechnic College, which currently borders its campus. Japan has been asked to help refurbish some of the older buildings on the Polytechnic campus as the merger proceeds.

Foreign assistance also plays an important role in the university's scholarship programs. The awarding of assistance is overseen by Samoa Education Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa through the Staff Training and Scholarship Committee, which oversees study abroad as well as at NUS.

"For university, most students finishing secondary school will take the University Preparatory Year at NUS," says Registrar Tyrone Laurenson. "At the end of that year, they are tested in the areas of science, commerce and arts. Based on their test results, the STSC will award them scholarships to universities in New Zealand, Australia, University of the South Pacific or give them assistance to continue their studies here at NUS."

When students complete their university degrees, either at home or overseas, they come back through the minister's committee. Laurenson says there is often keen competition between government departments for returning graduates, especially those with the technical skills needed by government. Scholarship students are "bonded" to serve the Samoan government for as many years as they were overseas studying.

One example of how this system works took place at NUS, which sorely needed more Internet and Web skills. A graduate of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Kapeni Matatia, returned home in July 2000. Meanwhile, NUS administrators met him at the airport with a contract to sign.

(Left to right) ICT Manager Kapeni Matatia, NUS student intern Fono Toluono and JICA volunteer Kenta Uwagawa. Photo: Scott Whitney

When his name came up a few days later in the minister's STSC meeting, Laurenson listened quietly while other members made persuasive arguments for Matatia coming to their departments. When they were all finished, Minister Fiame asked Laurenson if he had anything to say. "Yes, madam chairwoman," he replied, "NUS hired Mr. Matatia last week."

Laurenson himself is a reverse migrant, having been raised, educated and serving 25 years in the police force of New Zealand. His parents migrated to New Zealand in 1941.

NUS has also made good use of volunteers provided by international or bilateral agencies. "NUS has had volunteers from France, Japan, Australia, China and the U.S.," says Laurenson. "Right now we have six volunteers in teaching positions and three in administrative or technical support positions." A volunteer from Japan, Mitsuhiko Toho, even serves as advisor to the head of the university, Vice Chancellor Magele Mauiliu.

Another volunteer with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Kenta Uwagawa, has played a key role in overhauling the university's Web site. He works with Kapeni Matatia, the Australian-trained Samoan.

Matatia and Uwagawa work in a techie cove of wires and cables and stacks of monitors, servers and routers. "Many of the students who come here don't have any good orientation to computers or the Internet in secondary schools, so that's one thing we have to work on," says Matatia. He's just getting faculty and staff up to their full potential with email and four of the university's courses can now be delivered by Web.

Uwagawa is thin and smiling and looks perfectly at home in his lavalava. Matatia says his JICA partner is speaking good Samoan and has added a whole new dimension to the ICT department.

(Left to right) Trainee Junior Gale, Peace Corps volunteer Patrick Besha, media manager Tuifao Tumua and cameraman Ioane Lafaele. Photo: Scott Whitney

Another foreign volunteer who has made an impact at NUS is Patrick Besha, a Peace Corps worker from New York who has spent the last three years in Samoa. He's working with the NUS media development department offering technical assistance on videography and film editing. The video lab team, currently headed by Tuifao Tumua is currently working on a video for the government's Ministry of Health.

Besha, who earned his B.A. in English and Mass Communications at Syracuse University in the U.S., says the department frequently records student and faculty presentations, as well as special workshops and seminars at the campus and in the community.

According to Tumua and Matatia, more students than can be accepted want to be trainees in their two tech-focused departments. There is much demand for the skills that returning Samoans and overseas volunteers are bringing to NUS.

Laurenson says the National University of Samoa usually provides housing for volunteers, while the overseas agencies usually furnish a stipend or living allowance for volunteers working in Samoa. With aid leveraged at the institutional level with scholarship and infrastructure investments, NUS is turning itself into a justifiably proud and cutting-edge learning institution in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Find out more about the National University of Samoa at www.nus.edu.ws.