The event was a platform to celebrate how far the Institution has come in upholding quality standards, befitting a world-class university.

FROM LEFT: Chie Wasserfall, CEO: Namibian Standards Institution; Dr Tjama Tjivikua, NUST Vice-Chancellor; Dr Caroline Selepe, Director, Quality Promotion: Tshwane University of Technology; Mocks Shivute, Executive Director: NCHE Secretariat; Himeesora Kaimu, Director: NUST Quality Assurance Unit; and Dr Lisho Mundia, Director, Research and Innovation: Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation.Dr Lisho Mundia, the Director of Research and Innovation, at the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Minister, Hon Dr Itah Kandjii-Murangi.

“Higher education institutions are the principal drivers of skills, knowledge and innovation development in all the countries across the world. Quality in higher education will be achieved if universities carry out their core functions, which are teaching and learning, research and innovation, and community engagement in an environment that continuously and conscientiously promote quality and learning by doing,” Dr Mundia said.

“When we talk about quality assurance, we should not only look at it as ensuring some checks and balances, but as a way to improve what we do. It allows us to ask ourselves some critical questions about what we do and how we teach and learn. Today, education is a global paradigm. We produce graduates for the global market. As such, it is very important that we follow global standards,” remarked Dr Tjama Tjivikua, the NUST Vice-Chancellor. “Ensuring quality is expensive; it costs money and resources, but it is absolutely necessary for the graduates that we put out there in order to create a competitive economy in a globally benchmarked world,” he added.

Dr Caroline Selepe, the Director of Quality Promotion at the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, who amongst others, is also a programme accreditation expert, also shared her considerable expertise with the audience.

NUST, through the QAU, continuously aims to ensure that all the programmes on offer are registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and are accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), and other professional bodies.