Old Mutual Namibia and the Polytechnic of Namibia signed a three-year agreement. The insurer and assurance giant will provide financial support to the Polytechnic’s library.
The agreement is worth N$300 000, which will be payable in three annual tranches of N$100 000 in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Old Mutual marketing manager Lélanie Basson said the support will be used to further improve the services offered by the Polytechnic library, which is the cornerstone of knowledge dissemination and research at the institution.
Basson said it is an important thread in the Polytechnic’s tapestry of community service and engagement that its resources are being readily available to non-Polytechnic users for the sake of national development and capacity building.
‘Old Mutual’s funding will allow for the acquisition of a tailor-made Library Information and Management System (LIMS) during the first two years. The third tranche will ensure the purchase of additional computers and reference material,’ she noted.
Basson added that Vision 2030 identifies education as a primary tool and national priority for achieving Namibia’s developmental goals, with science, technology, research, entrepreneurship and innovation recognised as key drivers of the new economy.
‘This investment has been fully justified by the sharp increase in the number of library users comprising more than 9 400 students, 300-plus academic staff of the Polytechnic, scores of distance learning students from other educational institutions and dozens of researchers from corporate and government institutions in Namibia’, she said. – Nampa
