Namibia – Australian Alumni Association established
The Namibia Australia Alumni Association (NAAA) was recently established and registered as a non-profit organisation.
The Association this week in a statement said that an EXCO Committee has been elected to run the affairs of the Association for a period of five years.
The aim of the association is to engage both government to reinstate Namibia to benefit from Australia Award Scholarships at Master’s Degree and PhD level in order to address the acute skills deficit as a result of the apartheid legacy, to strengthen ties between the countries via the power of networking for developmental purposes.
Furthermore it aims to network with alumunus/alumnae for research and innovations, apply for small grant for the benefit of the community as part of their social responsibility for the development purposes and to facilitate and build community of practice among alumnae to enhance best practice as agent of change in various sectors.
The association confirmed that the classification of Namibia as an upper middle income coupled with a low applicants rate has led the country to be excluded from the Australia Award at Master’s and PhD scholarships, however the neighboring countries such as South Africa and Botswana who fall under the same classification like Namibia have been benefiting to date from the Australia Award for Master’s and PhD Scholarships.
“The issue needs urgent attention as Namibia has been disadvantaged in the process attributed to its exclusion from such prestigious scholarships from the Australia Award more especially in view of the enormous skills deficit in the country due to the legacy of exclusion development policy perpetuated for a number of years by apartheid regime,” the association added.
Meanwhile the Australia Global Alumni Network has been established with a purpose to connect, build and invigorate the international community of scholars who have studied in Australia and Australians who have studied overseas.
