Money woes hamper Unam’s Rundu campus growth
Helen Miranda, the director of the University of Namibia’s (Unam) Rundu campus, says the continued reduction of government subsidies negatively impacts the institution’s ability to implement programmes and expand course offerings to students in the riverside town.
She made these remarks during an engagement with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources and Community Development.
The engagement was on a motion titled ‘Deep current crisis in the education sector’, which was tabled by Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi in the National Assembly last year.
The motion aims to find immediate and long-term intervention to overcome the post-Covid-19 impacts on the education sector.
The ministry of higher education, technology and innovation recently announced Unam’s budget of N$1 billion, while N$505 million goes to the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).
Miranda said there is a need for increased government funding to enable the university to expand its course offerings, enhance research capabilities and improve facilities.
“While the region's education system is not in crisis, there is substantial room for improvement. The education system is grappling with high failure rates and the after-effects of Covid-19, which have exacerbated challenges such as unemployment among high school graduates and limited access to higher education due to insufficient spaces and funding,” she said.
Limited intake
“The Rundu Unam campus is faced with challenges such as inadequate facilities to train more students. The campus currently offers programmes in education, nursing and commerce, but must limit its annual intake due to insufficient lecture venues and [information and communications technology] facilities. This limitation is particularly evident in the education programme, where competition from other fields like medicine and engineering often leaves education programmes with less qualified or less motivated students,” Miranda said.
"Sometimes we are forced to accept students who do not even aspire to become teachers, simply because they have nowhere else to go. This situation affects the quality of our education system, as we end up with individuals who are not passionate about teaching.”
The campus director also highlighted opportunities for innovation and research, particularly leveraging the region's natural and cultural resources.
“Those who recently attended our graduation can remember that there was pressure from not only the nation - but also from the government - for the Unam Rundu campus to start offering agriculture because we are in an agricultural region. And we have been willing and more than ready to expand our courses by introducing agriculture here, but because of the limitations, we are unable to do that.”
She made these remarks during an engagement with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources and Community Development.
The engagement was on a motion titled ‘Deep current crisis in the education sector’, which was tabled by Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi in the National Assembly last year.
The motion aims to find immediate and long-term intervention to overcome the post-Covid-19 impacts on the education sector.
The ministry of higher education, technology and innovation recently announced Unam’s budget of N$1 billion, while N$505 million goes to the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).
Miranda said there is a need for increased government funding to enable the university to expand its course offerings, enhance research capabilities and improve facilities.
“While the region's education system is not in crisis, there is substantial room for improvement. The education system is grappling with high failure rates and the after-effects of Covid-19, which have exacerbated challenges such as unemployment among high school graduates and limited access to higher education due to insufficient spaces and funding,” she said.
Limited intake
“The Rundu Unam campus is faced with challenges such as inadequate facilities to train more students. The campus currently offers programmes in education, nursing and commerce, but must limit its annual intake due to insufficient lecture venues and [information and communications technology] facilities. This limitation is particularly evident in the education programme, where competition from other fields like medicine and engineering often leaves education programmes with less qualified or less motivated students,” Miranda said.
"Sometimes we are forced to accept students who do not even aspire to become teachers, simply because they have nowhere else to go. This situation affects the quality of our education system, as we end up with individuals who are not passionate about teaching.”
The campus director also highlighted opportunities for innovation and research, particularly leveraging the region's natural and cultural resources.
“Those who recently attended our graduation can remember that there was pressure from not only the nation - but also from the government - for the Unam Rundu campus to start offering agriculture because we are in an agricultural region. And we have been willing and more than ready to expand our courses by introducing agriculture here, but because of the limitations, we are unable to do that.”
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