The National University of Samoa (N.U.S) is fundraising for a bus to help students in Savai'i get to and from their studies with university officials indicating this is part of bigger plans to upgrade their facilities.

The fundraising was announced by the N.U.S. President and Vice Chancellor, Aiono Prof. Alec Ekeroma on Friday morning. 

"It is a holistic fundraiser. It is just a realisation of a bigger plan to build a better campus for Savai'i," he said. 

"The current campus in Savai'i is on the second level of the market, it is not appropriate for the students. 

"In fact, the cement is starting to crack, we felt that it is not safe. There are some engineers who are in our council so they are asking us to look for a better place for the students.

"We are looking at a campus not somewhere in the market area."

The Vice Chancellor made reference to a fundraiser for the bus as part of their bigger plan to upgrade the N.U.S. Campus in Savai'i. 

"We decided to raise funds for the bus. We decided to include the community, instead of us just paying for the bus," he said. 

"As a result a lot of the Savai'ians in Australia and New Zealand are coming forward to donate money from overseas when they heard about the fundraiser."

Aiono indicated that they plan to use the left over funds to start fencing a piece of land that would house the campus for Savai'i. 

"We want to start work on the piece of land that is not far from the market, " he said. 

As for the date of the fundraiser, the Aiono said it is scheduled for 18 June 2022.

"The fundraiser will be on the 18th of this month. There will be a tent in front of the government building and there will also be a tent at the Savaii campus as well," he said. 

"We will be taking calls from the kind hearted community, who may want to assist us in realising the dream of owning a bus in Savai'i."

The Vice Chancellor then made mention of the request for a bus coming from the Savai'i students themselves. 

"The request came from the community itself, the students. The hours for the tutorials and the lectures are not conducive to the hours of the public buses, so the students asked us for a bus," he said. 

"I suppose it is serving a need for the students in Savaii and also improving access to higher education."

The N.U.S. Director of Finance, Asiata Lydel Visan told the Samoa Observer that the campus manager will be coordinating the fundraiser programme on the day. 

"We will be supporting the collection of funds, there will be two vans on Savai'i and two for Upolu to assist the collection," Asiata added. 

Aiono said that the donations will go to the Ministry for Finance and from there the bus will be bought. But he added that if there are leftover funds, it will be used to fence the two acre land by the market that could be used for the new campus. 

"The Samoa Land Corporation has alluded to vacant lands near the market so the university is hoping to build a campus there for the Savai'i students," he said. 

"I believe those lands were planned to build a market by the former government, but those plans have been canned so now we can plan for a University campus near the market."

Asked how much the University was hoping to raise for the bus, Aiono said $160,000 was a good amount. 

"We hope to raise $160,000 to buy a big bus and also have something left over for the fencing of the land for a new campus," he said.

The Vice Chancellor also made reference to partnering with the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.) on the new campus' facilities.

"It will be a collaborative effort. I hope M.E.S.C. joins in as well so they can use the resources as well when their teachers go to Savai'i," he said. 

"They can use the facilities to sleep over at."