Recently, more than 2 900 candidates from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) received their hard-earned degrees at the Windhoek Graduation Ceremony. On behalf of the student body, I express my sincere gratitude to you, Your Excellency, President Dr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, for gracing us with your presence. Over the two-day engagement, graduates were conferred with various degrees across a wide range of disciplines, at undergraduate, as well as Master's and Doctoral levels, each one a testament to the resilience of students and the dedication of those who support them.
Your Excellency, your powerful and timely address reminded the graduating class that education is not only about personal achievement, but also about responsibility, service, and contribution to national development. You reaffirmed the Government's commitment to improving access to higher education through the Subsidised Tertiary Education Funding Model, which supports students at public and private higher learning institutions, as well as vocational training centres. As a young Namibian, I take great pride in having witnessed this commitment bearing fruit for thousands of students across our country.
Your Excellency, while this progress is commendable, the growing demand for higher education brings with it pressures that cannot go unnoticed. Public institutions are absorbing more students than ever before, and with that comes the responsibility to ensure that access does not compromise quality. As you have stated on various platforms, "we are too few to be poor," and it is precisely because of that conviction that we must be equally vigilant that every student who walks through these doors receives an education worthy of the sacrifice it took to get them here. As access to higher education continues to expand under government's progressive funding initiatives, it becomes equally important that institutions are adequately supported to sustain academic excellence, infrastructure development, student support services, and innovation. The Students' Representative Council (SRC) remains committed to contributing constructively to open conversations that advance both access and quality within Namibia's higher education sector.
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Your Excellency, when you urged our graduates to use their knowledge and skills to tackle poverty, unemployment, inequality, climate change, and underdevelopment, and reminded them that they carry the hopes and aspirations of a nation, those words resonated as both a charge and a challenge. It is a challenge we accept. We, therefore, call on the continued collaboration in ensuring that the ambitions of educational reform translate into sustainable and impactful outcomes for generations to come.
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Your Excellency, the SRC constitution calls on us to "promote and ascribe to a culture of academic excellence amongst the students." That mandate has guided our work throughout this year, not as a solo effort, but through the collective dedication of the entire SRC. In my inaugural address at Orientation earlier this year, I noted that NUST equips students to grow beyond academics, striking a balance between academic excellence and recreational life that ensures graduates leave not merely as student numbers, but as names, with reputations built within this university, within this country, and globally.
I will conclude by saying, we will live up to this ethos. We will take everything this institution poured into us and pour it back into this country, into the communities that sent us here with hope. And we will build something. Fix something. Lead something. And inspire a nation.
We appreciate your presence at our ceremony, patiently witnessing each and every student walking past the stage as they celebrated such a momentous occasion. This will forever be etched in our memories.
I remain, Jerome !Nanuseb
*Jerome !Nanuseb is the Students' Representative Council President and an elected member of the NUST Council at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The opinions expressed in this letter are his own and not those of the University.
