Over 90 Namibian students received scholarships to study various related courses in the green hydrogen industry, availed through grant funding from Germany.

Sixty awardees will undertake Master's Degree courses, while 30 will undertake their studies at the local Vocational Training Centres.

The awarding ceremony took place at the State House.

The scholarships are part of the Namibian Youth for Green Hydrogen Scholarship Programme and attracted 1 128 applicants after the applications were opened in March last year.

466 were shortlisted and 164 were recommended by the committee comprising representatives from NTA, NCRST, UNAM, NUST, and the VTC, and relevant industry players

But only 90 students made the cut, owing to funding being limited to Technical and Vocational Education Training,  Master's Degree programs as well as the upskilling of current graduates through relevant short courses.

The recipients are from 12 out of the country's 14 regions and Khomas makes up the number of candidates at 40%.

The Minister of Higher Education...Dr. Itah Kandjii-Murangi cautioned the recipients that skills once gained be applied to the benefit of the entire country.

"All eyes are on you and we count on you to excel. Remember, we are residents of this big house."

"All these efforts are geared towards exploiting the Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia opportunity in a two-pronged manner that empowers Namibia to play its role as a global citizen as the world economy works to transition to net zero emissions."

The German government through its Ministry of Education and Research allocated close to N$88 million for the courses to be studied in Germany and local institutions in collaboration with German counterparts.

Dates for the next application window would be announced in due course for those who were not successful during the first awarding process.