The upgrading of Polytechnic in Namibia to the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the post-secondary education niche

• In Event: Re-Mapping the Community College and Global Counterpart Sector: North-South and East-West Dialogues Part 2

Proposal

On 1 January 2016 the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) came into being as the second University in the country. Namibia is a young country and its employment of education to address particular societal issues is noteworthy for the international community, especially other nations in the Global South. Namibia is a newly independent country, with a developing economy, and bourgeoning numbers of secondary school leavers, with but one other public institution of higher education (University of Namibia). As such, it offers an interesting case study of the post-secondary education niche.
Theoretical emphasis begins with the unequivocally context that higher education is a strong catalyst of economic growth in the African context (Bloom, Canning, and Chan 2006). Sone of the most problematic aspects of higher education in Africa are quality and low graduation rates (Materu 2007). However, mindful of the goals of education in Namibia, it is difficult to understand how the reforms in the institutional fabric of higher education will equalize access to higher education in Namibia; more so in view of the obvious upward missionary drift brought about by the reforms.
This presentation follows a comparative educational perspective, in investigating the upgrading of the Polytechnic Namibia to NUST, within the Namibian post-secondary and higher education systems. Comparative Education entails a three-in-one perspective on education and training (Van der Walt and Wolhuter 2016, p. 1019; Bray, Adamson, and Mason 2014, p. 26). In the first instance, comparative education focuses on the education system. Thus the education system perspective constitutes the first perspective. The second perspective, the contextual perspective, is a two-way perspective: education systems are regarded as the outcome of contextual forces (such as economy, social system, politics, and demography) and on the other hand the effect of education on society (such as the effect of education on economic growth) is studied. According to the comparative perspective, the third perspective, different education systems are studied within their societal contexts, in order to attain a better understanding of the interrelationships between education system and societal context.
Findings show that the upgrading of the Polytechnic of Namibia to a Technical University, a community college global counterpart, and to the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) (Shaketange and Kanyimba 2016) is an example of upward mission drift as the institution and its predecessor have been over the past decade, phasing out diplomas and certificates below the bachelors level and adding bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. programmes. NUST can be regarded as a counterpart to the Community Colleges as it offers first (Bachelors) degree programmes of a decidedly vocational-technical bent. Namibia still has a massive unemployment problem which is not alleviated by this upward mission drift. This is a cause for concern to secure employment for the masses of school leavers (Dodds, 2001), most who cannot get access to the very thinly developed higher education sector. While there is a need for the expansion of higher education in Namibia, this presentation shows how movement has been at the expense of post-secondary education opportunities below degree level, which has now been decimated. The presentation seeks to determine the value of the NUST within the context of post-secondary education massification and the national contextual forces shaping education in Namibia. In conclusion, the value of this institution in the post-secondary school education landscape of Namibia is assessed. The contribution to existing knowledge is a case study of academic drift and the merging of institutional forms. This presentation supports the panel theme by providing comparative context to community colleges and global counterparts and by highlighting voices from the global Middle East.

REFERENCES
Bloom, David, Canning, David and Chan, Kevin. 2006. Higher education and economic development in Africa. Study commissioned by the World Bank. http://ent.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Reports/BloomAndCanning.pdf
Date of Access: 22 January 2017.
Bray, Mark, Adamson, Bob and Mason, Mark. 2014. "Introduction." In Comparative education research: Approaches and methods, Edited by Mark Bray, Bob Adamson, and Mark Mason, (p. 18-33). Dordrecht & Hong Kong: Springer & Comparative Education Research Centre, University of Hong Kong Center, University of Hong Kong.
Dodds, Tony. 2001. "Creating open and lifelong institutions of higher education: A Namibian case study." International Journal of Lilfelong Education 20(6): 502-510.
Materu, Peter. 2007. Higher education quality assurance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Status, challenges, opportunities and promising practices. Washington DC: The World Bank. http://www.eua.be/Libraries/qa-connect/wp124_qa_higher_edu_africa.pdf?sfvrsn=0 Date of Access: 25 Janaury 2017.
Shaketange, Lydia and Kanyimba, Alex. 2016. "The kind of knowledge assessed through mature age entry admission tests in Namibia Institutes of Higher Education: Case study of the University of Namibia and the Polytechnic of Namibia. International Journal of Higher Education 5(4): 63-74.
Van der Walt, Johannes and Wolhuter, Charl. 2016. Eerste taal as onderrigmedium in hoër onderwys: ʼn internasionale perspektief. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 56(4-1): 1016-1033.

Author

• Sarala Krishnamurthy, Namibia University of Science and Technology