Local labour scholar Dr Michael Akuupa says Namibian higher education institutions are struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving global academic curricula and the demands of emerging labour markets.

According to Dr Akuupa, this growing mismatch between the skills produced by local universities and those required internationally is contributing to a rising number of young Namibian graduates seeking employment opportunities abroad, a trend widely referred to as the brain drain.

He warns that unless Namibia's education system becomes more responsive to global industry shifts and workforce needs, the country risks losing more valuable human capital to international labour markets.

"You know, at the moment, there are new forms of markets that are emerging in the economy. The common programmes that are offered by our trainings and institutes, most of them do not really cater for the emerging markets. You know, at the moment, there are new forms of markets that are emerging in the economy. If it is in mining, what kind of expertise is required? If it is in medicine, what kind of expertise is required? You know, like things like the platform economy, which is more about youth participating in the online activities, whether it's content creation or things like that, that they end up also exposing for the world to acquire. But in our own case, we need to know now, because we haven't had a labour force survey for a long time now; we need to know what the labour market looks like. Is the labour market responding to the emerging markets or not? And if it is emerging, and if it is responding, at what level?"