Windhoek
The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and the University of Namibia (Unam) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a view to raising awareness about road safety among students and to benefit road safety institutions through the research support of tertiary institutions.
The Road Safety Council recently held a welcoming session for the first batch of Unam interns for 2016. Thus far, over 30 students have benefitted from the internship programme. Moreover, some interns have based their research projects on road safety issues. The NRSC also employed two students on a part-time basis.
This follows the re-affirmation of their commitment towards Unam’s Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programme, which came into force in 2010 and was renewed this year when Unam Vice Chancellor Professor Lazarus Hangula and the CEO of NRSC, Eugene Tendekule, signed an internship MoU.
NRSC senior public relations officer Bethino Mbirimujo said the collaboration between the two institutions was brought about by the National Road Safety Strategy and Namibian chapter of the Decade of Action.
“These documents call for collaboration between road safety institutions and tertiary institutions, with a view to exposing students to road safety and in turn road safety institutions benefitting from research capacities of tertiary institutions,” he said.
He noted that NRSC benefits by having more hands on deck to implement its programmes.
Students in turn appreciated the internship opportunity, which gives them a chance to apply what they have learned in theory during their studies to real life situations.
The two institutions do not only expect students to gain experience and become graduates, but also to add value to their skills and knowledge.
Currently, NRSC and Unam collaborate in areas, such as road safety education and communication, road safety research, finance and administration, with internships being the main area of collaboration.
The internship programme targets third-year students majoring in public/business administration, statistics, social sciences, media and communication, geosciences and library sciences.
Unam appealed to other industries to emulate the NRSC’s exemplary model and become part of the solution by helping to produce knowledge and practical skills, that cannot be easily be acquired in a lecture room setting.