BACKGROUND OF QUALITY ASSURANCE AT NUST
Managing the quality of universities’ academic programmes and non-academic services is a practice adopted world-wide and is considered a vital tool for ensuring that universities and their offerings are effective, transparent, internationally comparable and publicly accountable.
Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) has a distinguished history of providing career-oriented qualifications that are challenging and at the same time rewarding to the student and to the Namibian employment sector.
The institution is strongly committed to maintaining high academic standards by enhancing the quality of its activities including teaching and learning, research, community engagement and support services. This is achieved through the refinement of its quality assurance processes which enable the institution to continuously improve, control, review and redefine its actions so as to attain its goals.
The institution has an internal reputation for the quality of its teaching, often provided by leading researchers in their disciplines and supported by state-of-the-art learning facilities.
NUST’s approach to quality is premised on the belief that it is the professionalism and creativity of all staff (academic, non-academic and administrative), individually and collectively, that makes a vital contribution to the enhancement of the quality of all its services.
Before its transformation to NUST in 2015, the institution was affiliated to the Certification Council for Technikon Education (SERTEC) in South Africa and always participated in the audits during the mid-nineties. In March 2007, NUST become the only institution outside South Africa to be audited by the HEQC.
NUST has a number of programmes accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Namibia, and it continues to submit programmes on an annual basis for the purpose of accreditation. Some programmes also received accreditation from some professional bodies.