By Foibe Paavo
SWAKOPMUND, 31 May 2022 – On Monday, 30 May 2022, the Swakopmund Municipality handed over a plot at Matutura to the International University of Management (IUM) for the construction and development of an IUM research centre in the coastal town.
The municipality and the university entered into an agreement to develop a research centre, to enhance exploration of opportunity, academic excellence, real-world problem solving and knowledge accreditation dissemination.
The historic moment was to give the green light to the development of the IUM Research, Training and Conference centre.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, the Mayor of Swakopmund, Louisa Kativa, said that the council welcomes the development of the IUM facility with open arms as it will help in the development of the town through delivering quality education, training and research programmes which are derived by the needs of the society and the socioeconomic challenge of the community.
“The education of our youth is very important,” the mayor said.
IUM was established in 1994 with only one student and one lecturer. Today, the university has 13 600 students and over 500 employees including professors and lecturers. And it has about four campuses and one branch.
“IUM came from humble beginnings with a vision from God to men and women through this humble man, a villager to the entire nation, if not the world,” Founder and council chair at IUM, Professor David Namwandi, recounted.
Namwandi also said that IUM has thousands of e-books and journals which will be accessed straight from this centre as part of the research and learning activities. To expand a bit more on the scope of their library collections, the university has access to 45 electronic databases with thousands of books and journals which include the E-BIS CO, and Business Premier databases.
He said that all the resources, both printed and electronic, are re-searchable in a single search bar cowered by Discovery Tool.
“On the training league, we have to focus on convening opportunities for all these issues and problems unpacked to be discovered, discussed while in solutions found through participatory approaches in order to build our nation and reconstruct our economy,” said Namwandi.
Training in research and problem solving will be an important aspect of the training given at the centre. And this type of training will provide people individually or institutionally an opportunity to enhance their mindsets and become problem solvers through applied research techniques.
Namwandi further stated that IUM has declared 2022 as the year of consolidated performance. And wishes this declaration to be seen in the context of Namibia’s Vision 2030 together with AU Agenda 2063, which is Africa’s blueprint and masterplan for the transformation of Africa into the global powerhouse of the future.
However, to reach both these visions and agendas, he said, a country must undergo a transformation in terms of work ethics and be agile and competitive in the international arena. Both in terms of research development and technological advancement.
“We believe our salvation is research or empirical research and scientific research which ultimately provides tangible solutions to the many challenges faced as a nation.
“In establishing this centre, therefore, it remains our deepest conviction that this centre will be critical in getting answers to our fundamental questions and create work and wealth for our people,” he said.
“Nations who invest heavily in research and development prosper”.
Management believes that with applied and scientific research, the living standard of people at the coast and the nation at large will be improved drastically and poverty shall be something of the past if we can impart serious research activities.
“One day, we’re going to kiss poverty goodbye … but only if we remain united as a nation,” said Namwandi.
“Parents in Swakopmund, you need to smile because the costs that you’ve been spending on your children to go study in the city will now be cut off. Since children now are going to walk from home to the university and back home,” Mayor Kativa said.
Namwandi concluded that the IUM team and other professionals involved in the construction of the centre are ready to commence as soon as possible as the money is already available.
“We promise constant pursuance of excellence,” IUM coastal campus director, Titus Haimbili concluded. – Namibia Daily News
