The University of Namibia (Unam) has announced that Namibian students who owe the institution N$10 000 or less are now allowed to register. 

The office of the bursar yesterday clarified this latest announcement supersedes the announcement on the matter made on 13 January 2023, which stated one should have a zero to N$5 000 outstanding balance before registration. 

Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) received the announcement with mixed feelings.

“We welcome it as a number of students can now register. However, there’s still a majority of students who are excluded. It excludes the vast majority of students who owe above N$10 000. The best way is to have a threshold by percentages instead of actual figures. Let’s say students are required to pay 10% of their debts before they register instead of saying only students who owe less than N$10 000. In this way, everyone is assisted instead of a limited number,” suggested Nanso spokesperson Dorothea Nangolo.

Meanwhile, the Students Union of Namibia (SUN) deputy secretary general Petrina Immanuel said they are happy with the announcement.

“However, we believe the blanket is not inclusive enough, tuition fees structures vary from course to course, hence engineering programmes and medicine programmes are expensive above N$50 000 per annum compared to other courses like education that cost N$24 000 per annum,” Immanuel argued. 

The union feels those with lower fee structures will benefit while those with higher fee structures will have predicaments.

Therefore, SUN recommends arrangements should be based on fee structures rather than an open blanket. 

SADC and non-SADC students are still required to have a zero balance on their accounts to enable them to register for the 2023 academic year.

The total registration fee and deposit payable of N$5 845 are applicable to Namibian students, while SADC needs to pay N$10 495 upfront and non-SADC scholars will have to fork out N$19 145 as the minimum deposit required for registration.

- anakale@nepc.com.na