The National University of Samoa (NUS) is Samoa’s national public university. Its study areas include arts, science, education, health sciences, nursing, medicine, business, entrepreneurship, technical education, maritime training and Samoan studies. NUS offers foundation certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, postgraduate diplomas and master’s programs, with some programs offering thesis or applied study options. The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a regional Pacific university with a Samoa Campus at Alafua and a Savaii Centre. It offers agriculture and food technology programs and more than 100 pre-degree and degree courses through faculties covering areas such as business, science, engineering, environment, education, humanities and social sciences. Pacific TAFE provides preliminary and foundation study and Skills Based Qualifications that can support progression to USP tertiary study. Other providers may appear on the Samoa Qualifications Authority register, but many focus on vocational education rather than recognized higher education. Samoa’s school system commonly leads from Year 12 and the Samoa School Certificate to Year 13 and the Samoa Secondary Leaving Certificate. NUS and USP set their own subject, grade and document requirements. An application may require a certified birth certificate or passport, school certificates, previous tertiary qualifications and, for some master’s or doctoral programs, a research proposal. NUS may consider mature applicants, commonly from age 20 with at least three years of relevant full-time work or training, while USP may accept equivalent qualifications, diploma progression or applicants who meet its mature-entry criteria. English is the main teaching language at NUS, while Samoan is used especially in discussion; international applicants may need strong English skills and, where required, HSA001 Samoan as a Second Language. Program length depends on the award and institution. An NUS foundation certificate usually takes about one year, while a diploma commonly takes two years or twelve courses. A bachelor’s degree commonly contains 24 courses over at least six semesters. Full-time students often take four courses per semester and part-time students two, although underloading or overloading may require approval from the dean. At USP, many degrees use an eight-course structure in each of three years. Teaching can combine classroom sessions, flexible learning, printed materials and online study; the Samoa Campus has a strong flexible-learning component. Applied programs may include practical training or work attachments. Costs are stated in Tala (SAT) and vary by course, program and institution. USP’s published 2026 examples include T$433 for a 100-level general course, T$608 for 100-level accounting and T$625 for 100-level computing science. Examples at 200 level are T$438 for general study, T$658 for accounting and T$675 for computing science; 300-level examples include T$465 for general study and T$478 for science. USP also lists annual non-tuition charges such as T$140 for general services and T$175 for health services, with Alafua residence examples of T$2,800 for a shared room and T$4,200 for a single room. NUS generally combines tuition per course with enrolment, information and communication technology, student-association and possible sponsorship-billing components, but no current 2026 NUS amount is confirmed in the available public evidence. Funding may come from NUS or USP scholarships, Ministry of Education and Culture awards, external scholarships, employers or ministry sponsorships. A Ministry of Education and Culture notice for semester one 2026 listed 100 Foundation Education scholarships for applicants with the 2025 Samoa Secondary Leaving Certificate, including example thresholds of at least 60 percent in English, 50 percent in mathematics and a total of at least 220. Eligibility, places, deadlines and amounts depend on the specific intake. Student services include counselling, literacy and numeracy support, career counselling, employability assistance, learning centres, libraries, health services, accommodation and academic advice. Student associations provide representation, welfare support and academic guidance. The Samoa Qualifications Authority (SQA) supports quality assurance, provider and program registration, the Samoa Qualifications Framework and recognition of foreign qualifications. The Samoa Qualifications Framework is the national structure used to compare recognized qualifications by level. A foreign qualification recognition application normally requires a certified qualification and transcript, identification, translations where needed and a fee. SQA checks authenticity, the quality assurance status of the awarding country and the comparable Samoa Qualifications Framework level. Processing is approximately 20 working days, or about 15 working days for qualifications from Australia or New Zealand. Recognition provides an official Samoan comparison but does not by itself create a legal entitlement to admission, employment or professional licensing.
Study in Samoa
Higher education in Samoa includes degree, diploma and foundation programs at the National University of Samoa, the University of the South Pacific and other recognized providers. Study may be face-to-face, blended, print-based or online, with programs ranging from agriculture and business to education, health, computing, maritime training and the sciences. Admission, costs, scholarships and progression depend on the institution and program.
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