National University of Samoa (N.U.S.) students will be pitching the benefits of their institution to Year 13 students from colleges across Samoa with its Open Day on Friday.  

The Chairman of the University's Open Day and Director of N.U.S' Finance sector, Su'a Diamond Brown, said this years' Open Day is a multi-faceted experience that caters especially to Year 13 students. 

The theme for this years' Open Day is" “O lou Iunivesite o le ofaga lena o le ola aoaoina” or "Your university is the nest of the educational life".

The Open Day's goals include lowering the youth crime rate through pushing them to education and familiarising young students with the areas of study available at N.U.S and their importance to their communities, the Chairman said. 

"Some students may have the knowledge in the areas they pick from when they're in colleges but when they get to the practical side of it, it's a different story," he said.

"Some students just pick [medical] science without knowing that it requires more than the usual medical work like involving blood and so forth."

This year's Open Day will be held in partnership with the Australian-Pacific Technical College (A.P.T.C).

They will also be showcasing their existing programs and activities available in their area of studies.The Year 13 students will also be invited to visit their campus on Friday.

According to Su'a, the importance of the Open Day for the current University students is to help push them to be more involved into their areas of studies and become more passionate towards them.

Su'a further believes that such events can divert young people from criminality and into education.

"For us Samoans, if a student doesn't make it to the University after their year 13 in College, then parents suddenly decide to either leave them at home or to work," he said.

"But remember, this can create an increasing crime rate for the children from being away from their educational lives but we're trying to lessen that so pushing them to university is a much bigger boost to their bright futures."

One of the group of students preparing for Friday is the cultural dancing group of the N.U.S that comprises students from two centres of the N.U.S, the Centre of Samoan studies and the Oloamanu Centre.