Staff Reporter
Windhoek
The largest privately owned Namibian university, the International University of Management (IUM), which offers degree and diploma courses to thousands of Namibians and SADC students recently achieved another academic milestone when it trained a group of Nigerian professionals.
IUM says that in recent years it has experienced exponential growth and has already expanded its footprint to other African countries, and offers quality academic courses in collaboration with other universities.
The institution recently took another step forward when it offered a certificate course to staff of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), which sought its services to train its senior staff in Advanced Strategic Management.
IUM offered the course to MHWUN in Windhoek during April 2017.
The visit to Namibia gave MHWUN leaders the opportunity to undertake a comparative analysis of the Nigerian and Namibian public sector health systems.
In addition, it allowed the union’s staff to receive training in a number of areas with a view to using the knowledge acquired to optimise the management performance of the MHWUN.
The training covered the following topics: Strategic Leadership and Governance; Strategic Intelligence and Analytics, Systems Thinking and Strategic Decision Making, Managing Strategic Change and Reforms as well as Strategic Risk Determination and Management.
Speaking on behalf of the Nigerian delegation Dr Biobelemoye Joy Josiah, the national president of the union and leader of the delegation, thanked IUM for the training opportunity and its well-articulated method of teaching, which he said benefited its delegation immensely.
Dr David Namwandi, the founder and Chairperson of the IUM Governing Council, awarded certificates to the participants.
In his address, Dr Namwandi extended a passionate plea to African countries to work together in all spheres of life including education and training to further develop mother Africa.
He recalled that during Namibia’s long and bitter struggle for independence, Nigeria used to train many young Namibian and South African exiles in various disciplines.
It was therefore heartening, to see Namibians 27 years after Independence reciprocating this good gesture.
He further pointed out that Africa had now developed its skills, expertise and knowledge, sufficiently enough to interchangeably train its own people among itself. He thus called African countries to strengthen cooperation in this crucial area of education and training.
Namwandi disclosed that negotiations between MHWUN and IUM to establish an IUM Executive MBA programme, which IUM would offer and manage were at an advanced stage.
Nigeria would send high-ranking officials from various social sectors to the programme within this year.
Speaking at the same occasion, the newly appointed IUM director for its Centre for Improved Institutional Performance (CIIP), Joel Talbot, said the Centre would strive to become a forum of excellence in leadership skills for executives on all levels.
CIIP will have the responsibility of managing the IUM Executive MBA programme.
Talbot invited companies, organisations as well as government offices to contact his office with regard to the courses offered. He encouraged businesses to visit the Dorado Park Campus or visit the IUM website www.ium.edu.na for more details.