2400 graduates capped – NUST celebrates their 3rd virtual graduation
The University of Namibian (NUST) celebrated their Graduation day virtually for the third time last week, and more than 2400 students graduated.
Traditionally the ceremony is held face-to-face, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to limit exposing the campus community to the virus the event tool place online.
NUST Vice-Chancellor, Dr Erold Naomab, presided over the graduation for the first time said that Namibia is well on course to advance the human-centric convergence of virtual and physical environments and the emergence of society 5.0 to unlock the future potential of jobs and the creation of employment.
“We have harnessed the power of the youth and exploited the demographic dividend, and the qualifications awarded, reflect the emergence of the future jobs as the Fourth Industrial Revolution ready generation takes a leap into the future,” he added.
Minister of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Hon. Dr. Itah Kandjii-Murangi recognized NUST’s endeavoring efforts for introducing a digital strategy to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis within an educational system.
“This virtual environment supports teaching, learning and the evaluation of assessments in a digital world and I am pleased that NUST has taken its best efforts to cater for all students,” she added.
Florette Nakusera, Chairperson of the Council at NUST said she is happy to note that NUST has lived up to the challenge and graduated a number of students from those groups that were left behind. “For example the Ovahimba, Ovazemba and the San community and since 2018 until now we have graduated 35 of which 12 are female students,” said Nakusera.
Namibia has a shortage of skilled personnel in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, and as a technological University geared towards providing qualifications in these disciplines. The Institution has consistently increased its graduates, with a particular focus on STEM and during the June 2021 ceremony, 958 students graduated with STEM qualifications.
