The Samoa government has awarded more than one and a half million US dollars in scholarships for the new school year.
The main donors are the Australian, New Zealand and Samoan governments.
Recipients will take up studies at universities in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and others will attend the National University of Samoa.
The largest number of scholarship students will be heading to Fiji for degree courses at the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji School of Medicine.
The Samoa government has also appointed a Student Counsellor for Samoan students in Fiji.
The minister of education, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, says students leaving home for the first time experience homesickness, culture shock and difficulties dealing with a free environment.
This sometimes affects their studies and the counsellor's role is to help students cope with such problems.
The first student counsellor to Fiji is Palepa Amosa of the Foreign Affairs Department.
