Rudolf Gaiseb 

Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) has adjusted its registration systems to support the implementation of the subsidised tertiary funding model, “specifically to enable eligible students to register without the payment of registration fees”.

NUST informed New Era that the ministry has a commitment to supporting the university in addressing any resulting financial shortfall.

Responding to questions this week, the university’s spokesperson Cindy van Wyk said, “We are confident this commitment will be met without delay”.

Last week, the education ministry ordered institutions of higher learning to refund any registration fees paid by students.

Van Wyk said Nust has confirmed its systems to the subsidy, and will refund those students who paid registration fees prior to last Friday when the minister made the announcement. 

She added that the refunds are subject to a verification process. 

“The subsidised tertiary funding model does not apply retrospectively. As such, students who have failed their previous academic year, as well as those with outstanding financial obligations to the university, are required to settle the applicable fees in order to register,” she said.

The university stated that the subsidy applies to all primary undergraduate qualifications offered by the university, including Bridging Programmes and Introduction to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (InSTEM).

She told prospective students to disregard any misinformation regarding qualification and its registration process circulating on social media and to rely on official university communication channels. Meanwhile, the University of Namibia’s (Unam) spokesperson Simon Namesho said students must first meet the institution’s admission requirements to proceed.

“There’s a form that people are completing at institutions to say, ‘Do you meet the eligibility criteria?’ If someone is not eligible for the subsidy, they are advised to go to the payment counter to settle their fees,” he added.

These include students who are self-funded.

“So, it wasn’t necessarily Unam saying ‘No’. It was them that were not in the full norm of the admission requirements,” he noted.

However, some eligible students were reportedly being charged for registration at the Hage Geingob Campus, trying to register for a pharmacist’s course, which requires 33 points in five subjects.

Namesho said this course is not part of the extended registration period. He said for Unam’s schools, such as Allied Health Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, and Veterinary Medicine, applications must be submitted during the August-October period.

If a student attempts to apply in January, during the extended registration period, even with exceptional points, the application will not be accepted because the programmes are already full.

“In the first period of application between August and October, we can receive close to 1 000 to 5 000 applicants going to medicine alone. Out of that total number, you need to take only 80. By the time you come to January, there is no point in opening because it’s already full anyway,” he noted. 

– rgaiseb@nepc.com.na