The promises of a Diploma in Sports under a joint course organised between the National University of Samoa and the Auckland Unitec in New Zealand, has not turned out as well as it was initially felt.
The 3 year working arrangement between the two learning institutions has ended and the National University of Samoa is at a cross road of whether to continue with the course.
Interest in the diploma has dropped to the stage where the NUS appealed to the leaders of sporting organizations to help out.
A one-day seminar at the Le Papaigalagala Campus yesterday, brought forth several recommendations for the NUS to work with.
Participants were urged to respond to two key questions to help determine a path for the course to take.
“Whether there’s a need for students with a sports Diploma and whether the community is prepared to employ them.”
“How can NUS improve/deliver its Diploma in Sports and Fitness for its graduates to be marketable/”
A former council member of the NUS and current director of the Seventh day Adventist Church Schools, Seiuli Paul Walwork felt that the course holds a lot of promise for the development of sport, but it started off on the wrong foot.






“I was against this course from the start when I was a member of the university council because it was not relevant,” Seiuli told the seminar .
‘I failed to see what the relevance of the protest at the Waitangi Treaty have on the course, but this was a UNITEC programme and they still went ahead with it.”
Seiuli went on to propose a two tier course starting with a Certificate for the first year and building up to the diploma for the second year.
There were also calls from other participants for a review of the administering faculty, like the faculty of education, where the diploma holders could be absorbed into the schools as physical education teachers.
The course is currently under the University’s Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship.

 

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