The national development agenda is well captured in Vision 2030 and practically expressed in subsequent National Development Plans. The foresighted aspirations in these documents aim to meaningfully improve citizens’ quality of life through the development and implementation of the programmes outlined therein. The Harambee Prosperity Plans 1-2, in addition, were formulated on the principle of injecting urgency in fast-tracking the implementation of existing and new development programmes and projects.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is one of the themes referenced several times in these documents, highlighting the critical role it can play in advancing the national development agenda. TVET should therefore be viewed and accepted as an extension of all other programmes designed to redress the economic inequalities and skewed distribution of wealth prevalent across the country.
TVET is a sector which is well suited to steer and fast-track the journey towards the realisation of Vision 2030. The sector is equally well poised to lay the foundation for local manufacturing and production capacity through its training programmes.
What the workplaces and the economy demand are graduates (and by extension workers) who are highly trained artisans, technicians and well-versed experts by the time they exit tertiary institutions. The sector should therefore transform students from elementary job seekers into highly capacitated, well-equipped graduates with advanced, sought-after technical skills that qualify and position them to spearhead the establishment of manufacturing hubs in all corners of the country. It is these hubs where gainful employment can be generated on the one hand, and high-quality ‘Proudly Made in Namibia’ materials, equipment, products and machinery are produced for both local and international markets.
It is therefore, at least in my view, the right time to place technical education at the centre of the national development trajectory.
With that in mind, some serious consideration must be given to how the content and certification levels of the technical courses, currently offered by public TVET centres, can be re-modelled and elevated to a level equal to that of the two public universities.
Proverbially, the ‘ceilings must be brought down, and the roofs broken’ between the end-qualifications of the two streams of education in public institutions of higher learning.
The higher education landscape (its standing and attractiveness) cannot continue to be defined by the academic curricula emphasis of our public universities only.
Technical education must take centre stage, not only in producing much-needed artisans but also in graduating them with degree-level technical qualifications offered by a dedicated public university. Hence, the time has come to consider elevating technical qualifications and ‘… lift the cultural status… (of TVET)… to equal that of a university education’ (RZN Daily Newsletter).
It is my firm belief that the education status and qualifications currently offered by public technical and vocational training centres in Namibia would become far more attractive if brought into line with those of public universities. This proposition, by no means, advocates the elimination of certificate and diploma qualifications in technical fields.
To the contrary, it simply advocates expanding the qualifications’ threshold by establishing a public technical university, which would continue to offer training in various technical fields and graduate students with degrees, in addition to certificates and diplomas.
High school learners who successfully complete their NSSCO and NSSCAS levels in technical streams, and others with relevant subject combinations and aptitudes, including students at TVET centres, would be enabled to aspire to and apply for degree courses in the technical streams of their choice. A public technical university would, in no time, as a spin-off, attract more learners coming straight from our high schools and subsequently mitigate the high demand for places in traditional academic universities.
One of the questions lingering in the minds of the technocrats, as they read this article, is how such an institution could be established. There are various models to consider when planning the creation of the proposed public technical university. The well-established, functioning TVET sector has ten public TVET centres located across the country. Therefore, the consolidation model could be considered the best option, as the existing centres could be easily amalgamated into one unified university.
The Unam model of incorporating the then education colleges, in addition to other international examples, can be used as a reference and a basis for the groundwork. What is important to highlight is that the proposed public technical university would have a solid regional infrastructure base, which would provide a firm foundation for inception and great potential for expansion and the restructuring of the centres into modern regional campuses.
Finally, a dedicated public technical university would give impetus to the Namibian industrialisation drive, more so in view of the discovery of new natural resources and critical minerals, coupled with the heightened desire to activate the much-talked-about local beneficiation aspirations.
The technical university could therefore generate the required specialist capacities and capabilities required in these new ventures.
*Harold Tjahikika is passionate about education.
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