John Ekongo
25 August 2008
Windhoek — In an effort to develop world-class skills in the Namibia Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, the Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN) has forged a new partnership with Mobile Telecommunications Limited Company (MTC).
The aim of the partnership is to promote and nurture ICT in the country, by way of an endowed chair in its school of information technology
MTC on Thursday became the first Namibian commercial entity to sponsor an endowed chair or professorship in the School of Information Technology at the PoN, for N$600000 covering a period of three years.
An endowed chair is also referred to as professorship. It is a private-public initiative by which an influential body, entity or corporate citizen sponsors a faculty at a tertiary institution to host a knowledgeable expert or experts in any field of study for an unspecified period of time.
More common in the highly developed economies, this scheme is limited on the continent given the considerable amount of money needed to service such a project.
It is hoped that the professorship will provide a platform where it will continue to question issues relevant to the ICT sector in the country, provide critical research and analysis on the performance of the ICT, and act as transmission belt for ideas and collaboration between the academe and corporate world.
But pertinent to this is that the professorships will also be able to act in advisory and consulting capacity to national and all relevant players on ICT related matters.
The PoN will host the professorship and is also tasked with searching for a suitable candidate to head the endowed chair. Serving at the rank of professor, the MTC endowed chair will be a full-time position at the PoN for a period of five years in the School of Information Technology.
Officiating at the ceremony, Rector of the PoN, Tjama Tjivikua, welcomed the initiative by MTC saying the company has shown a high level of support and commitment to educational initiatives in the country.
"At PoN we realise that investment of the magnitude of MTC is an act of faith in PoN's ability to use the investment with telling effects to reshape the educational landscape.
Tjivikua noted that if other corporate bodies emulate MTC, Namibia would be able to achieve its goals as set out in Vision 2030.
"To really propel Namibia to the deve-lopment horizons envi-saged in our successive national developmental plans in Vision 2030 and in the UN Millennium Development Goals, we need to see all four pillars of development - government, educational institutions, civil societies and last but not least, the corporate sector accepts their collective responsibilities to the full."
On his part, Albertus Aochamub, general manager of communication and marketing at the network operator, said his company's involvement in this initiative is driven by the desire to see Namibia move into a global hub of ICT excellence and to promote the growth of the industry by the initiation of new and creative ideas.
MTC for the last few years has been a generous donor to the education sector and training needs of the country. To date, it is the highest sponsor for information communication technology related studies to Namibians studying locally and abroad with funding said to be well above seven figure barriers.
At the start of the year, MTC awarded seven bursaries to six students studying at the Polytechnic of Namibia and one student studying at Cape Town Technikon. The MTC bursary recipients are studying Electronic Engineering (4), IT and Accounting and Finance (2). They are Morris Matomola, Epafras Nambele, Selma Phillemon, Pedro Dinis, Tapia Ngoya, Florentina Apollus and Sylvia Kalimba.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
