Unam engages industry partners

Junior Kapofi
The University of Namibia (Unam) held an industry partner engagement on work integrated education recently. The event was aimed at fostering better engagement with partners on better ways to offer work-intergrated learning.

According to a policy from the Office of the Prime Minster, ministries and regional offices are supposed to pay interns a monthly stipend of N$2 076. However, from data captured from the ministries, there are still some that do not provide students with stipend, Hiskia Tjaronda, a representative from the Office of the Prime Minster, said during a presentation.

Between 2020 and 2021, government took in a total of 156 interns, to the tune of N$120 774. In the following cycle 2021-2022, it took in less interns – 133 – at a cost of N$125 964.

Tjaronda said this is an improvement, but a lot can still be done as interns did not receive stipends for the fourth quarter.

Moreover, the most recent cycle 2022 to 2023, with third and fourth quarter data not yet available, saw government appointing 101 interns and paying them N$ 145 607.

Speaking at the event, MTC CEO Licky Erastus touched on the company’s internship programme, which has collaborated with various entities to place students at workplaces. Additionally, he also announced an increase in the internship programme budget by 17.6%, taking it from N$1.7 million to N$2 million to cater for more students. He urged other corporates to do their part to curb unemployment.