John Ekongo
15 April 2008
Windhoek — The Polytechnic of Namibia last week capped close to 1 701 students in various disciplines.
In what was a truly packed event, the 13th graduation ceremony of the Polytechnic started off on a sombre note with a good one hour behind schedule, due to the large crowd of parents, families and relatives who came to witness the momentous occasion.
Against this setting, staff members scrambled to rectify the situation by roping in extra chairs to accommodate the barrage, with people leaning against the partitioned walls of the Safari Court and Conference Centre.
Which all bears testimony that the Polytechnic has grown considerably over the years.
As the academic procession streamed in single file, the audience rose to the delight of the academic global anthem "Gaudeamus igitur".
As soon as the audience had taken their seats and the congregation of the gathering was confirmed by the Polytechnic Chairperson of the Council, Oloff Munjanu, the ball was set in motion.
A total of 336 Bachelor degrees and 610 National Diplomas were conferred at this year's ceremony, alongside 384 National Certificates and National Higher Certificates, which were obtained by Polytechnic students for the class of 2007.
Another first was the conferment of Master's Degree in Information Technology on two female candidates Valerie Guriras and Panduleni Ndilula, breaking the taboo that complex subjects such as IT are a male domain.
Also, the rector's medal for outstanding student was granted to Anicia Nicola Pieters - she received a Bachelor of Technology in Business Computing averaging a healthy 84 percentage pass in all her subjects.
The Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Tjama Tjivikua, attributed the sharp increase of intakes into his institution to the Polytechnic's response to market demand for higher-level, career-oriented qualifications which the institution uniquely offers to the job market.
"Our programmes have always been informed by the needs of industry, which explains the advantage our graduates enjoy in finding employment. As industry requirements and student demand shift towards higher qualifications, it is natural for the Polytechnic to gear up for and roll out appropriate degree programmes.
"Of course we did and continue to do so without compromising the quality, relevance, and excellence befitting a globally respected and competitive University of Science and Technology, such as the Polytechnic," the rector said.
Commenting on the first Master's degrees in IT conferred by the institution, Dr Tjivikua commended the School of IT, the youngest of the Polytechnic's five schools, for reaching this milestone so early in its existence, and congratulated the two students concerned, Valerie Garises and Panduleni Ndilula.
"As a shining example of hard work and dedication, in fact, all our graduates deserve to be congratulated. Many of them have full-time jobs, but after a full day's work they still make time to attend lectures, study, do research and prepare assignments for years on end, until they achieve their career goals.
Graduation appropriately crowns their hard work," said Tjivikua.
Delivering a keynote address on behalf of the Head of State, Presidential Affairs Minister Albert Kawana reiterated Government's commitment to education.
"Government regards education as an important element in our efforts to eradicate poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment. Through education we can determine progress towards socio-economic development," said the President.
Pohamba added, "we will continue to invest in the education of our nation, we will continue to allocate the largest portion of our national budget to education."
The President reiterated that education would remain at the centre of Government's developmental objectives.
The graduation, which was themed, "Innovative Entrepreneurship", called for radical changes and for Namibians, especially students, to move away from the "business as usual approach" to a more refined innovative entrepreneurship "thinking out of the box" spirit.
"I find this theme fitting and appropriate," said Pohamba.
"First it highlights the importance of scientific, technological and entrepreneurship education in shaping our understanding, threats and opportunities presented by global economics," Pohamba said.
The Head of State is of the opinion that Namibia as a developing country cannot afford to remain behind the entrepreneurial and technological developments that are taking place.
"It demands that we continuously evaluate our macro and micro-economic policies in order to create the capacities and opportunities to invent and offer new products and services that will enable us to compete internationally."
Statistics released by the Polytechnic's graduate statistics office indicate the School of Business and Management: Accounting and Finance continues to be the biggest draw card for studies. This year a total of 1 019 students registered in this faculty, of which 345 students were awarded diplomas while 290 received degrees.
In all its five departments within the school of Business and Management, the B-Tech in Finance and Accounting was the most sought after qualification, with 87 degrees, 98 diplomas and 156 certificates. This was followed closely by the Human Resources Management course, which had a registered 111 students who received diplomas, and a further 85 who received their B-Tech in Human Resource Management.
The growth of the Polytechnic's academic intake is significant, stressed Polytechnic Council Chairperson Munjanu.
"Year by year more applicants reach the Polytechnic due to its outstanding performance and growing reputation. The number of high school graduates being turned away due to the limited number of places in our programmes grows larger and larger.
"At the beginning of this academic year 2008, the otherwise efficient registration process became characterised by dominant large crowds of student hopefuls. With a theoretical capacity of 10 000 students, due to lack of facilities and financial resources we had to cut off intake at an absolute limit of 8 500 students," said Munjanu.
He said that it should be understood that in order to meet the demand of providing education to all, the Polytechnic had to find the necessary finances which in part is carried by the students in the annual price increases for tuition.
"Quality education comes at a price, higher quality at a higher price, but nevertheless we shall continue to grow as a matter of strategic interest," concluded Munjanu.
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