Survey feud between Unam and Polytechnic continues

THE student leaders of the University of Namibia (Unam) and the Polytechnic of Namibia are at each other’s throats following the release of a survey rating the performances of public institutions.

Unam was rated among the worst performing public institutions in the country in the Old Mutual Namibia – Namibia Stock Exchange Executive Opinion Survey published on the Polytechnic website.The Polytechnic fared a little better in the survey, which 60 local business executives participated.The teachers’ training colleges and the vocational training centres were also rated as not academically delivering the goods.The Unam Students’ Representative Council (SRC) expressed ‘disgust’ at the survey’s findings and referred to Robin Sherbourne, the Old Mutual Namibia economist who carried out the research, as ‘a so-called fly-by-night researcher masquerading as an economist’. Polytechnic SRC president Trevor Chika yesterday came out guns blazing, saying: ‘The rankings of tertiary institutions by the survey should not cause pandemonium in the academic domain, but should rather ring the bell in many of our minds perhaps to take a closer look at ourselves in the mirror and assess where we are going wrong and give ourselves a pat on the back where we are doing well as institutions of cardinal importance in shaping the future of this country.’ He said the feud between the Polytechnic and Unam served no purpose and encouraged his peers not to focus on ‘petty issues’.