By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK Unam’s Research Centre at Henties Bay had recently been designated as a regional node of excellence for mushroom development under Nepad, ensuring continental recognition for the institution and the country. This was proudly announced in an official address on Saturday by the Chancellor of Unam, Dr Sam Nujoma, at Unam’s 14th graduation ceremony. “You may recall that our young research centre at Henties Bay was last year also incorporated as one of the United Nations university centres for excellence under the Institute of Natural Resources of Africa. Last month it was designated with the ZERI project management unit for the mushroom bio-resources research committee of Nepad,” said Nujoma. According to Nujoma this is a great international achievement for the University of Namibia. “In view of this I would like to congratulate Professor Lazarus Hangula and his team and also request the Government to treasure these achievements and provide all the needed support in keeping with the expectations from the region and the international community,” the former Head of State said. Nujoma encouraged greater cooperation between higher education institutions, the Government and the private sector. “We need to work together to change the mindset of our people when it comes to seeking employment. We need to put more resources and ingenuity into the entrepreneurship sector to help make Namibia a better place to live in,” said Nujoma, who praised particularly single parents for getting their children to study at Unam. He informed the gathering to respond to the national development agenda. “Unam has put in place a task force on operationalizing the implementation of Vision 2030 with the aim to devise a strategy for the university to formulate a plan of action and serve as link between Unam, the Government and other stakeholders. The task force has established terms of reference and identified areas of demand for relevant capacity building in terms of Vision 2030 requirements. In addition, we must also begin to export processed and manufactured goods proudly made by Namibians for Namibians and the world,” said Nujoma, who also paid tribute to the founder of the ZERI project, said.