The University of the South Pacific’s Samoa Campus was teemed with prospective students, parents, teachers, guests and friends during its annual Open Day.
On October 6, 2021, under the theme ‘USP: Shaping Pacific Futures,’ over 1,000 students from various institutions in Upolu were among the curious masses who flocked to the campus to see firsthand what the University has to offer. The USP Samoa Campus: Savai’i Centre also held its Open Day which saw around 300 students attend.
Samoa Campus Director, Tootoooleaava Dr Fanaafi Aiono-Le emphasised the significance of the Open Day as a decision-making day for students.
She advised the youngsters to learn and make good decisions about their next educational adventure.
Chief Guest, Honorable Minister for Sports, Education and Culture, Le Afioga Seuula Ioane Tuaau stressed the importance of quality education and cited the University Open Day as a ‘defining day’ in students’ lives.
He traced USP’s 50+ years’ evolution from a ‘good’ to an ‘excellent’ university, all while shaping Pacific futures by transforming students into ‘quality social beings’ who are now ‘drivers of progressive changes’ around the Pacific.
The Honorable Minister drew focus on USP’s resilience and thriving-ability in times of crisis, for having attained two prestigious rankings from esteemed ranking bodies, amid the crippling effects of Covid-19 around the world: a ranking of 11 for Crisis Management by the renowned World’s Universities Real Impact (WURI); and a ranking amongst the 10% of the world’s best universities, by the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2022.
“There is no better time to join USP than now since USP is ranked amongst the best universities worldwide, and also because securing suitable employment is difficult without a qualification from a quality university—like USP,” he said.
Other highlights of the Open Day included guided tours to the University’s key sections: the IT section, the Library, Student Administrative Services, Campus Life, Estates and Infrastructure, Student Learning Support, the Farm, Livestock, Laboratories, Finance, and so forth.
The guided tours provided students with first-hand information on what each section offers forms of support available to students throughout the semester. At the laboratories and farms, the students gained hands-on experience participating in different staged experiments and demonstrations.
There were exciting, engaging quizzes with prizes at each location, and students learned a lot from the USP sponsors’ tables and presentations. More quizzes and cultural performances by various student cultural groups were part of the post-tour activities.
