28 February, 2019 Samoa – Cabinet has approved the merging of the Samoa Shipping Corporations Maritime Academy based at Vaitele and the NUS School of Maritime.
This was confirmed by the Acting Chairman of the Samoa Shipping Corporation Palea Vaalele Faaolotoi in his interview with Samoa Global News earlier this week.
He said that the merge will be effective as early as next month.
The Acting Chairman added that a consultant from overseas was here to look at the pros and cons of the merger and thair Board is still waiting for the final reports from the consultant on what his findings are for the initiative.
“Ua maea ona pasia e le kapeneta le tuufaatasia lea o le aoga a le faalapotopotoga o vaa ma le aoga a le NUS.
“O le taimi lenei ua mae’a foi le faatalanoaina e le consultant mai fafo sa malaga faapitoa mai mo le vaega lea.
“E lei maua lelei la se matou lipoti e aumai i totonu o le matou komiti matou te iloa ai ni faafitauli ogaoga i lea vaega.”
Palea says the merging of the two schools will better prepare students for working on ships once they graduate, especially for the SSMA students currently based at Vaitele.
The Acting Chairman added, for the SSMA at Vaitele when the student graduate they have to wait for some time before they get work on ships whereas for the NUS school of Maritime once the students graduate they immediately sign up for work on overseas ships.
He also said once the merge is effective all students will be using the school buildings at Mulinuu as the space in Vaitele is too small.
“O le tulaga i le aoga o le fa’alapotopotoga o vaa a fa’apea e faauu le tamaititi e na ona uma lava na faauu tufatufa loa I vaa e faigaluega ai.
“Ae le pei la o le vaega a le Samoa Shipping a faauu le tamaititi ona faatalitali lea mo ni vaa mo i latou.
“Ae o lea e faatali e lei oo mai se lipoti mai le consultant lea na sau mai fafo in the last two weeks mo le fuafuaga poo le a se latou tala ua fai aua e tatau lava ona iai ni mea e evaluate ma fetuunai ai latou I le lelei ma le faaletonu ma le faafitauli.
“O le faamoemoe la a tuufaatasi la e faaaoga le faleaoga lea ei Mulinuu e faaauau ai fuafuaga ia ona e tele le fuafuaga.”
