Enrollment in the National University of Samoa’s Diploma of Media and Journalism program continues to increase with 26 students signing up to study journalism.

Honiara Salanoa, the N.U.S. Head of Department for Media and Communication within the Faculty of Arts, told the Samoa Observer that there is a lot of interest by students wanting to study journalism.

"Diploma in Media and Journalism - we're still here, a lot of interest from potential students wanting to study Journalism and our enrolment this year speaks volumes,” she said.

“We now have 26 students enrolled in the diploma in media and our journalism lecturer Misa Vicky Lepou (who has recently completed her master's degree) is at the helm of training and preparing our students for the media Industry.”

There is also a bachelor degree for the media program which is also being run by Ms Lepou.

The university’s bachelor of arts program (majoring in media and journalism) provides a hands-on learning approach for students, according to Ms Salanoa. 

“For all of us in the media and communication department, we are all excited to have an increase in the number of interested students, hopefully they would continue to love the program," she added.

The N.U.S. media and journalism program was shelved last year to undergo restructuring and reopened this year with 26 students registered under the diploma program and four for the undergraduate degree. 

Most of their graduates are now in the media industry working with the different media organizations.

N.U.S. Vice-Chancellor Aiono Prof. Alec Ekeroma said since the university had a low enrollment in 2020 and to be consistent with university policies, they decided to shelf and then relaunch it after a restructuring of their curriculum that reflected the needs of the market and employers.