By: Dwight Links
The International University of Management (IUM) Vice-Chancellor, Osmund Mwandemele, has reminded higher education institutions in the country that their role is to generate knowledge and find solutions to global challenges.
Mwandemele spoke at the annual Association for Private Higher Education of Namibia (APHEIN) conference this week, which was hosted by IUM.
The conference highlighted key research papers on topics spanning from health, climate change, green hydrogen and energy, and agriculture, to mention but a few. Mwandemele explained that the association exists as a means of aiding academia to find solutions and collaborate on issues posing challenges to local society and the global community at large.
APHEIN currently consists of seven private higher education institutions in the country, with the conference on Wednesday attended by all members and academics, including those from the two public institutions – UNAM and NUST.
Mwandemele indicated that the purpose of academia is to occupy an important role in the production of new knowledge.
“Our role is to generate knowledge, and if we fail to do that, we will not exist as institutions of higher education,” he stated.
Mwandemele also pointed to the Namibia Journal of Managerial Sciences (NJMS) serving as a resource to help with multidisciplinary requirements for upcoming researchers and academics. He encouraged the scholars to utilise the journal to disseminate high-quality research and contribute valuable knowledge to society.
Media Ombudsman, Sadrag Shihomeka, outlined that higher education institutions should not only pursue creating knowledge without having forged a good relationship with the media landscape in a respective market.
He explained that higher learning institutions should not only look to create, produce knowledge and instill skills and competencies in their graduates, but also make use of media as an intermediary between them and society.
“The media will be that tool that markets you [researchers]. Media and [communication] technology allows you as the researcher to be who you are,” Shihomeka said. He indicated that there are examples today of researchers – many of whom are seasoned academics – who fail to make use of the media to communicate and share knowledge with the broader public.
He added that society needs to be enticed to make use of the information, at the same time encouraging citizens to continuously seek empowerment through knowledge, and that media should be seen as a tool for enhancing progress made in research.
To this, Shihomeka added that currently, the media is viewed as a mechanism only to inform, noting that “the current picture is that the media and the higher education institutions are in their separate corners and not working together to spread new ideas from the realm of research and development.”
He added that “though the media and higher institutions try their level best to work together and collaborate, we tend to use and consume media for our own benefit. More than ever, digitalisation created a new space for media usage and consumption” in relation to collaboration between the two sectors.
The ombudsman concluded by pointing to the importance of society transforming its consumption and participation with research and media for communities to be empowered with the new knowledge the country needs.
Shihomeka was headlined as the guest plenary presenter at the conference on Wednesday.
