The National University of Samoa is exploring a system suitable for carrying out tertiary registration which would accommodate both the manual walk-in as well as online enrolment as students and parents waited for hours to get enrolled.

Questions were raised about the unavailability of online registration and enrolment at the university as people had to forego their ferry passages back home while waiting for the process to finish.

Vice Chancellor Tuifuisaa Patila Amosa said the university is not disregarding online registration and continues to explore how to efficiently conduct face-to-face registration by developing a system that fits best.

"NUS had its first online registration during COVID-19, according to Tuifuisaa. This posed several challenges because not all students have devices to access online registration, and even if most students completed the online forms, they would still need to visit in-person counseling to seek assistance from staff members for clarification on the requirements of each programme and the courses offered," she said.

"In the era of digitisation, I believe we must continue to develop and work towards accomplishing this online platform. Of course, it will take time and a great amount of effort, but especially immense patience until we achieve such a system that would be beneficial for current and future generations to come.

"Although we have publicity about the programmes we offer and entry admission requirements, come enrolment time a lot of students still have a hard time carrying forth with the process.

"I believe during COVID we were able to carry out the online registration despite the challenges because the university was very accommodating."

Meanwhile, a total of 1029 new students have enrolled after two days and the overall numbers will be finalised after Friday.

Mary Sanafai of Falealili said it would have been more convenient and easier if the enrolment process was done online.

"If it was online, I could have just stayed home and enrolled from there, not having to deal with the long lines and long waiting time," she said.

Some parents complained about the printing process which usually can be done at the gym where the enrolment takes place rather they had to resort to printing materials on their own.

Another concerned mother who is also from Savaii and did not want to be named shared similar sentiments on the matter saying the process could have been more convenient.