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Professor Kangira remains best postgraduate supervisor

2018-06-04  Staff Report 2

Professor Kangira remains best postgraduate supervisor
Staff Reporter WINDHOEK - The centre for postgraduate at the University of Namibia (UNAM) for the second year in a row awarded Professor Jairos Kangira for successfully supervising the biggest number of students who graduated with masters and doctoral degrees in April this year. Kangira received the prestigious award last week. This is the second time Kangira scoops the prize in a row after the director of postgraduate studies at UNAM introduced it last year. Kangira supervised four Master’s Degree and three PhD English students who graduated in April this year. Among his PhD students who graduated this year were Dr. Justina Amakali who examined “Speech acts and their rhetorical purposes in the Namibian parliamentary discourse, 2015-106”, Dr. Josephine Sitwala who analysed “neo-colonial elitism and its influence in Kenya: A case study of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s petals of blood, devil on the cross and Matigari”, and Dr. Vida De Voss who assessed “Identity as ethical responsibility: A manifesto for social change in Toni Morisoni’s fiction”. After receiving the award, Kangira told New Era that he dedicates the award to his master’s and doctoral students for their resilience and hard work. “The students believed in me and I believe in them. They had dreams and I had dreams for them too; that’s what is needed to inspire students to succeed in this academic journey,” said Kangira, adding that he derived satisfaction from transforming students’ lives through education. Commenting on his area of specialisation, Kangira had this to say: “English, dubbed the Queen’s language, is regarded as a challenging language not only in Namibia, but elsewhere in Africa and other parts of the world where it is used as a second language.” He said studying English at master’s and doctoral levels needs a lot of motivation for second language students and not many would want to go beyond the first degree majoring in English. “At UNAM we are doing well as we are receiving applications for master’s and doctoral studies in English every year. And we are graduating master’s and doctoral students every year and these graduates are teaching English courses at UNAM, IUM, NUST and other institutions,” he said. Kangira, now a permanent resident of Namibia, is a Zimbabwean national who arrived in Namibia in 2006 and lectured English at the then Polytechnic of Namibia before moving to UNAM in 2010 where he is the current Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
2018-06-04  Staff Report 2

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