NUST celebrates 16 years of the Commercial Advancement training scheme
The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) will this week host the 8th graduation ceremony of the Commercial Advancement Training Scheme (CATS).
The scheme was developed in partnership with the Walvis Bay Corridor Group, Capacity Building International (InWEnt) and the Institute for Management and Leadership Training (IMLT).
The two-year programme is built on the German traineeship model in which individuals undergo four days of work-based training and attend academic lectures for two days per week.
This theoretical training component is supported by NUST from the curriculum design to implementation stages, as the lecturing takes place on the NUST campus. Individuals enrolled in the CATS programme study towards a Diploma in Business Process Management (NQF Level 6). Upon completion, they are able to enrol for a range of other qualifications at NUST.
Industry involvement is an essential aspect of the CATS programme, and a number of private-sector firms are affiliated with the initiative as CATS Member Companies. These are the organisations with whom the CATS participants are placed for the work-based training component of the programme. The CATS Member Companies are Cymot, Obeco, Ohlthaver & List, Manica, Pupkewitz Megatech, Taeuber & Corssen, Transworld Cargo and DB Schenker.
Since its inception in 2020, the CATS programme has seen an enrolment of 257 individuals with 109 of those seeing it through to completion.
About 51 individuals are enrolled in the CATS programme for 2021, and twenty will graduate from the programme on Thursday, 23 September 2021.
“We are incredibly proud of the graduating students, but also because we have developed and implemented a model for transferring knowledge and skills that are very effective,” said Adri Smith, the Project Officer for Industry Focused Programmes at NUST’s Centre for Enterprise Development.
