The Namibia University of Science and Technology’s Eenhana satellite campus has officially commenced its academic year, months after it was launched in the Ohangwena region. 

In October 2021, the university officially launched its new campus at Eenhana, making it the second fully-fledged campus in the country after the main campus in Windhoek.

NUST spokesperson Kaitira Kandjii confirmed that the new campus is up and running, and ready to commence for the 2022 academic year. 

“The campus will have a staff complement of 20. This comprises both academic and administrative staff,” he noted. 

Last year, NUST vice chancellor Erold Naomab visited the region to assess the facilities made available by the local authorities for the envisaged campus.

At the launch, higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi said the NUST Eenhana campus project fulfills the government’s policy of taking higher education to the masses.

She said the 2018 Labour Force Survey recorded that Ohangwena has a learner population of about 115 262, and despite the fact that this region is one of the most densely populated in the country, it has limited access to higher education.

On whether NUST will continue with online learning or resume face-to-face classes, Kandjii said the university will follow a hybrid model for the 2022 academic year. 

This hybrid model will see a mix of virtual or online learning and face-to-face contact sessions.

Annual government funding is often not enough for public universities to function and remain fully operational to meet their priority needs due to constant budget cuts by the shareholder.

Therefore, Kandjii highlighted one of the university’s goals for the next five years as being to redirect and place the institution onto a sustainable path to ensure that it is able to discharge its mandate well into the future. “A key aspect of this new strategy is the development of third-stream revenue. One avenue for the generation of such is by means of establishing smart partnerships with industry, SMEs, entrepreneurs and development partners that focus on applied research. This is undertaken through the state-of-the-art technology-inspired ecosystem, the High Technology Transfer Plaza Select (HTTPS),” he explained.

- anakale@nepc.com.na