Paheja Siririka
The Namibia University of Science and Technology aims to deliberately develop in Namibia and become a bridge between industry and academia through the spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, invention and innovation.
NUST vice chancellor Erold Naomab said the institution is capacitated to solve challenges brought by the external environment and positioned to be a cohesive university that is ready to tackle complex 21st-century challenges.
He said this last week during the institution’s 2022 October graduation ceremony. Naomab said: “We are faced with many challenges both locally and globally. We have seen irregular seasons due to global warming, causing the formation of either extreme dry seasons or unusual rainy seasons that lead to floods.
Global health crises like Covid-19 are expected to become more common, leading scientists
say.”
He added that despite this grim outlook, he is optimistic that things will be changed or addressed due to the ripe for new solutions. “However, the spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, invention and innovation will not develop in Namibia by accident. It should be planned, managed and encouraged,” he said.
Naomab stated: “We will use technologies and maximise the benefits of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions. Through our enabling tools, such as the hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS), we hope to be a catalyst for innovation in Namibia – a bridge between industry and academia.”
He added that formerly unexplored areas such as aerospace engineering, nuclear technology and emerging technologies must become a common stay at NUST and the institution deems them as a necessity.
On the same occasion, higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi stated that the time is ripe for Namibia and Africa to embrace technology and that NUST should be at the forefront of diffusing the adaptation of technology into the communities.
She further called on higher education institutions to come up with platforms where university students display their skills, like the World Skills Competition.
“It is my view to have our institutions of higher learning, likewise come up with a platform to showcase their technological projects for the country and the world to see. This will have a social positive impact that will extend beyond the classroom and beyond the workplace,” she stated.
Kandjii-Murangi added: “We can no longer afford to pursue knowledge that stays on the shelves, and in our exams.
People must see it, touch it and be improved by what we universities do.” This year, NUST capped 3 074 graduates, representing the largest number in a single year in the history of the institution. Last year, over 2 400 NUST students graduated. That ceremony was virtually held.