Unam Exceeds Expectations

I AM just finishing my year as the Fulbright Professor from the United States at the University of Namibia, and feel compelled to give some accolades to Unam. Prior to beginning my position at Unam, I had read several pieces in Namibian newspapers complaining about the apathetic Unam students and the unmotivated, unproductive, or even unethical, Unam lecturers.

I had heard similar comments from Namibians I met after I arrived. When I left the University of Minnesota, a top research university in the United States, to come to Unam in January 2008, I had quite low expectations. However, after spending a year lecturing and researching in the Social Work Section at Unam, I must say that the lecturers and students in my department were nothing like the characterisations I had heard before I arrived or have read about in the media.
While certainly not every student at Unam is well prepared or diligent, the majority are eager to learn and take their education very seriously. I found many of the students to be curious and opinionated, and willing to stretch themselves to learn more. The students’ workloads in my department are very high, with the fourth year students completing a yearlong internship, coupled with five classes, a thesis and a substantial community project. The expectations of the students at Unam is at least as high as most universities in the United States, and higher than many. Students in southern Africa know this, and the Unam social work department has many international students who choose Unam for their education. I believe that Unam graduates with a social work degree are very well prepared for tackling Namibia’s and the SADC region’s social problems.
In addition, the lecturers in the Social Work Section are among the hardest working academics I have ever seen. They put in an enormous amount of effort to teach students, and are committed to having students become responsible, ethical social work practitioners. They teach more than twice as many classes as lecturers at my American university. They are also what we would call in the United States, Engaged Scholars. They are Engaged Scholars in that they not only teach a lot of classes, but they also provide important technical assistance to civil society organisations, such as the Drug Awareness Group and the Namibia Association for Social Workers; provide in-service training to practicing social workers in such topics as mediation and community work; and conduct research projects that fit with Namibia’s long-term development goals, such as reducing alcohol use/abuse, improving HIV-AIDS services, and enhancing outreach to OVC caregivers.
While I cannot speak for other Unam Departments or Faculties, I strongly believe that the Unam students and lecturers in my department should be publically recognised for their outstanding work. I was pleased that the Unam I encountered was nothing like what I had expected based on media characterisations. I am honoured to have had the opportunity to spend a year with these fine lecturers and students.

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