The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and RWTH Aachen established a formal collaborative relationship in 2021. RWTH Aachen is one of the largest higher education institutions in Germany and is well renowned as a leading university in the fields of research, teaching and technology.
The visiting delegation included senior academics from RWTH Aachen’s Faculties of Business and Economics, Arts and Humanities, Medicine, and Georesources and Materials Engineering respectively. The RTWH Aachen group included senior staff members from that institution’s International Office.
Led by Sara Wigger, Head of Division for International Strategy, the RTWH Aachen delegation met with senior NUST management, including the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s, Registrar and ExecutiveDeans.NUSTVice-Chancellor, Dr Erold Naomab, welcomed the delegation from RWTH Aachen and commended them for undertaking the visit to NUST. “The formal relationship between our institutions was only established in 2021, yet you have shown a high level of commitment to our collaboration by travelling to Namibia to discuss strategic priorities for our partnership,” Dr Naomab said. Wigger emphasized the need for collective action to address contemporary problems, saying, “We believe as we tackle global challenges we need each other for a better world tomorrow”. She added that “through academic collaboration we hope to heal wounds and look forward to a peaceful future”.
Representatives from NUST’s four faculties met with their RWTH Aachen counterparts to discuss peer to peer collaboration. The two institutions agreed that their collaboration would be most impactful through third-party funded projects in a range of fields, such as those focusing on science parks and social innovation enterprises, and funded by the European Union (EU).