The Director of Corporate Engagement and International Relations at UNAM, Dr. Marius Kudumo, says Namibian academics are excelling internationally despite the opinions of naysayers.

Dr. Kudumo says what the education sector needs to thrive is support from stakeholders.

"There are professors in France who are alumni of UNAM; in the UK, there are people at Oxford; people at the African Union; there are people in the US; people teaching at Pretoria University, so the notion that the Namibian Education System is not of quality is not evidence-based." 

Dr. Kudumo is under the impression that the criticism from the public far outweighs the offers of support.

"The idea that our products or whatever in Namibia and UNAM are worthless, and so on. How did Oxford, the AU, or France find these people useful? We are saying, we must just support people to do their work, that's it. Guide them, mentor them, and support them, and they will do their best."

According to various university ranking systems, UNAM forms part of the top 100 of Africa's 290 universities.

"You look at your material in this library. When I was studying at Pretoria for my PHD, I was using this library, and the journals that I found there are also here. It's just that sometimes, because of resources, we don't keep up, but for people to say, 'There is nothing in that library?' It's made by people who have never even been here." 

He says universities do not exist in isolation; they exist to serve society, and that will only be possible if institutions of higher learning are adequately funded.

"You'll see during COVID people saying, 'Ja, why is the university not doing research?' You must fund people to do research because it is costly. If people want nbc to be everywhere, you must fund nbc to be there. You see, people say, 'We want a live broadcast', but they don't have a clue how much it costs. So, there is a lot of education that we need to do."