Vice President Nangolo Mbumba on Monday inaugurated the first phase of the University of Namibia (UNAM) Southern Campus at Keetmanshoop.
Since the university established its campus at Keetmanshoop it made use of temporary facilities at the Teachers’ Resource Centre in the Krönlein residential area, which falls under the ||Kharas Regional Council’s Directorate of Education.
The construction of the first phase started in August 2016 in the Noordhoek residential area and it cost the government N.dollars 93 million.
The campus houses four lecture halls, four geoscience laboratories, one classroom, offices, a disability access ramp, students’ lobbies, lecturers’ offices, a boardroom, ablution facilities and study areas.
In his remarks, Mbumba said for Namibia to build a strong, resilient, and prosperous nation in line with Vision 2030, the National Development Plans and Harambee Prosperity Plan, it should train and produce a highly skilled workforce that can only be attained by building robust higher education institutions.
Mbumba urged the youth, particularly in the ||Kharas Region, to seize the opportunity availed by the government and enrol for the variety of academic and professional qualifications offered at the UNAM Southern Campus.
“You may have heard about the developments in the mining, oil and hydrogen industries in our country. Our youth will only be able to fully participate and benefit economically from these industries if they are skilled and have the requisite know-how,” said Mbumba.
Also speaking was ||Kharas Governor Aletha Frederick, who said with various institutions of higher learning such as UNAM, the Namibia Institute of Mining Technology (NIMT) and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) currently constructing facilities at Keetmanshoop, the region can fully reap the demographic dividend by improving the skill set, employability and entrepreneurship of aspiring youth in the region.
“With the support of institutions of higher learning, ||Kharas has enormous potential to address socio-economic challenges, such as youth unemployment and the prevalence of widespread poverty in the region. The region has a competitive advantage now to exploit economic opportunities through socially inclusive innovation and enterprise development,” she added.
However, Frederick said that access to higher education seems to be the region’s biggest challenge, particularly for young people, as shown through the student population at most of the institutions in the region.
“Many of our learners are still unable to access tertiary education and it should be our concern to devise turnaround strategies to change this phenomenon. As stakeholders in education, we are duty bound to provide our learners with all the necessary support and inspiration to pursue further studies,” she said.