APIA (Samoa Observer/PINA) — Some 200 people turned up to mark the opening of the Oceania University of Medicine in Samoa, including the principal investor and chairwoman, American businesswoman Taffy Gould.
Gould pledged to the Samoan government the investors’ commitment to providing an “institution of high standard and integrity.”
Gould also announced that the school would set up a foundation to reward doctors or health personnel with innovative ideas that would improve health care in Samoa.
The launch of the school, which targets international students, follows the failure of a similar but unconnected medical school venture in neighboring Niue.
Samoa’s Minister of Health Mulitalo Siafausa Vui called the Samoa school a “milestone not only in medical training but in tertiary education in the country.”
Oceania University of Medicine says it will make extensive use of the Internet in delivering programs.
The dean is Dr. Ian Williams with local practitioner Leali’ifano Dr. Iopu Tanielu as a professor of medicine.
Seven overseas students have already enrolled, with the basic annual student fee A$27,000, the school said.
