One of the most important political decisions taken this year is that there will be free tertiary education from 2026.
It was announced by president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in her state of the nation address in April.
It means that Namibians who qualify will pay no registration and tuition fees at universities from next year.
How can we leverage free tertiary education?
Currently, Namibia has three big universities: the University of Namibia (Unam), Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) and the International University of Management (IUM).
There are also technical and vocational training (TVET) centres countrywide.
These institutions are responsible for the skills and knowledge production needed to develop our country.
While our universities are not ranked highly in Africa, it doesn’t mean they haven’t produced some of the country’s best minds.
For example, arguably the best defence lawyer Namibia has produced is Sisa Namandje, a Unam graduate. There are others too.
QUALIFICATIONS
The aim of free tertiary education is to improve Namibia’s literacy rate from the current 87.64%.
It means Namibia will have more educated citizens, which should lead to a more productive labour force and entrepreneurs.
Importantly, free education needs to increase the pool of specialised medical doctors and scientists in Namibia.
If we produce more specialists, Namibians won’t have to fly elsewhere for specialised treatment.
However, to ensure free tertiary education translates into quality education and development, Namibian universities and TVET centres must improve their teaching approaches, grading standards and the academic programmes.
Quality lectures need to be offered by qualified professors and doctors to produce the best graduates.
In addition, the grading system should be enhanced to foster competition among students.
Most importantly, our universities should introduce new academic programmes that contribute to Namibia’s development by exploring untapped markets for critical minerals and services.
These could be in fields like petroleum engineering, data science and nuclear physics, among others.
Social sciences and commerce programmes, such as forensic auditing and investigations, are also needed for Namibia to have its own certified experts.
IT’S UP TO US
Similarly, universities could elevate some of their current programmes to master’s and PhD levels to motivate Namibians to advance their studies up to the highest level.
This could increase the number of Namibian scholars, academics and consultants.
To conclude, the decision to make tertiary education free at universities and TVET centres is an important step in the right direction.
It is an opportunity every able Namibian can embrace.
However, universities will need to improve their teaching and programmes for it to make a substantive contribution to the development of our country.
- Collen Kurana is a doctorate student at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa.
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