Telecomms students off to Japan
The Japanese Embassy in Windhoek announced this week that two young professionals in the telecommunications industry will soon leave for Japan to further their studies in their respective fields.
Mr. Reinhard Siwombe Karembera, an engineer of Telecom Namibia will join the International Science and Technology Course at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering of the Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Mr. Tomas Tangeni Kapiye, a network engineer of Paratus Telecom, leaves early in September for the Graduate School of Information Technology of the Kobe Institute of Computing in Hyogo, Japan. Both will read Master’s degrees and take up practical internship at Japanese enterprises. They are expected to be back in Namibia in 2019 after completing the entire programme.
The post-grad study opportunity is enabled by a Japanese Government full scholarship programme called “African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative), which provides 1000 youths in Africa with opportunities to study at Japanese universities as well as doing internships at Japanese enterprises.
The aim is to help develop effective skills and knowledge of African youths in various fields to contribute to technological development. The ABE initiative is one of the Japanese Government’s commitments made at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in 2013.
This week, Mr. Karembera and Mr Kapiye paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Hideyuki Sakamoto, Ambassador of Japan to Namibia.
Both prospective students expressed their delight at the opportunity to study at advanced institutions, adding that they are keen to bring their knowledge back for the benefit of their employers, their industry and their country.
Ambassador Sakamoto wished them all the best in their studies and practical internships in Japan.
The two bring the number of Namibians studying under the ABE Initiative to five. The Japanese Government so far provided 13 Namibians with full scholarship at postgraduate level. Japan established its first permanent embassy in 2015. Before then, all local affairs were conducted by the Japanese Embassy in Pretoria.
