Vice-Chancellor Professor Le’apai Tu’ua ‘Ilaoa Lau Asofou Soo and faculty dean Afualo Faamoetauloa Dr Wood Salele (left) at the presentation. Photo: NUS/Misa Vicky Lepou

Pacific.Scoop
By Misa Vicky Lepou in Apia

The National University of Samoa’s faculty of business and entrepreneurship has been awarded an Eduniversal two palm distinction based on its international and regional influence for the first time since it was established 25 years ago.

A special ceremony showed off the plaque to  Vice-Chancellor Professor Leapai Tuua Ilaoa Asofou Soo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Letuimanu’asina Dr Emma Kruse-Vaai, faculty dean Afualo Faamoetauloa Dr Wood Salele and staff.

“It’s a milestone on its own.  We are humbled with the award,” Dr Salele said.

“We have now gained regional and global recognition of services provided here at our own university.”

“We’re fortunate to be one of those top international universities,” Dr Salele said.

“It is a testimony to the services provided and we’d like to present this award to the public.

“It is a combination of 25 years of hard work by previous management and all those who have come through the faculty and we are humbled by their services.”

The plaque was the result of an official selection of business schools around the world made by the Eduniversal’s international scientific committee that has established a global mapping system assessing each academic institution.

These universities are described to offer the best academic opportunities for students zone by zone, via a range of schools with different types of reputation and international ambitions in  nine zones, including Africa, North America, Latin America, Central Asia, Eurasia and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Far East and Oceania.

The National University of Samoa falls into the Oceania category.

“I’m proud as the head of the university. You have done the university proud by making our mark in the international arena of business schools,” Dr Salele said.

“We are very young, compared to other universities in the world, and yet we are in the competition now.

“There is a lot of room for improvement.  We have filled two palms and hopefully in the next 10 years, we will have five.”

The faculty of business and entrepreneurship was established to enhance and develop the understanding of business, economic, financial, management and marketing process – with particular emphasis on the needs of local, national and regional stakeholders the university serves.

Misa Vicky Lepou is a lecturer in journalism at the National University of Samoa.