WINDHOEK - Dr Kleopas Dumeni whose reign as chancellor at International University of Management (IUM) was marked by lecture hall scarcity and limited courses last week bowed out in dignity having overcome numerous challenges.
Dumeni a highly respected retired bishop at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia was as faultless as the head of IUM as he was during the 70s and 80s when he fought for the liberation of Namibia using oratory and religious persuation.
Officiating for the last time as the IUM chancellor at its main campus in Windhoek last Wednesday, Bishop Dumeni, a man of enduring words said, “It has truly been a great honour and privilege to have served this dynamic university. I leave therefore with my heart filled with thanks and gratitude for that memorable honour.”
Dumeni thanked “the Almighty God for the opportunity he had put in my path, for leading and guiding me throughout this journey to this point of my retirement. My journey with IUM was by His will and faithfulness, and I thank Him faithfully”.
“May I then, thank the Honourable Dr David Namwandi - the founder of IUM and chairman of the Governing Council for allowing me to be part of his great vision,” he said, adding, “May I in the same vein, thank the Governing Council for bestowing me the trust and confidence in appointing me as the second chancellor of IUM.”
Dr Dumeni’s reign at IUM has no bed of roses as he was tasked with finding a solution to numerous challenges such as the acute shortage of accommodation for thousands of IUM students in Windhoek where the main campus operated from rented buildings that cost an arm-and-a-leg in the Central Business District (CBD) while the limited number of lecture halls was a perennial headache for IUM.
During his reign IUM witnessed exponential growth as it constructed a new campus at Nkurenkuru where Namwandi’s business acumen saw a potential growth point.
IUM a privately-owned Namibian university was founded by Namwandi with a handful of students but has seen rapid growth both in terms of student numbers and campuses and its presence is notable at Walvis Bay where it has about 1000 students, and several thousands of students at its campus in Ongwediva and Nkurenkuru in Kavango West. IUM boosts a multicultural community of students representing most SADC countries such as Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Britain and Saint Lucia, among others too numerous to list.
It was founded in 1994 with a single student and one lecturer.
Dr Vano Nambala who Dumeni described as “a man with an outstanding record” was appointed as the new IUM chancellor at a ceremony witnessed by Namwandi and the former prime minister Nahas Angula and a coterie of IUM academics and others