University of Namibia (UNAM), in collaboration with Iowa State University (ISU) received a grant under the project titled: Strengthening University Systems to Improve Rural Education. This collaborative project is funded by the U.S. State Department and Windhoek Embassy to the value of US$200,000 and it is expected to run for the duration of two years from October 2022 to October 2024. A delegation of the University administrators led by Prof. Ellen N. Namhila, PVC Finance and Administration, and academics from the School of Education in the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences led by Dr. John Nyambe, Associate Dean, took a trip to Iowa State University in the USA. Included in the academic delegation were Prof. Sakaria M. Iipinge, Dr. Eveline O. Anyolo, Dr. Shiwana T. Naukushu, and Mr. Immanuel A. Shipena.
The delegation were hosted by the Iowa State University School of Education and former U.S. Fulbright Scholar to UNAM, Prof. Joanne Marshall. The purpose of the visit was to share strategies and build capacity among future teachers and teacher educators in order to increase the quality of rural education in both Iowa and Namibia. The team visited different places including schools, agricultural research stations, a horticulture research station, University Early Childhood Lab School, University Centre for Technology in teaching and learning, MakerSpace, University and public library and high school farm. The team learned the following:
- The concept of rural education is contextualised from country to country.
- The financing and sharing of resources of rural schools differ and depend on the social-economic setting.
- Leadership structures within schools and districts and how decisions are made depends on a district.
- The focus of special education is more life skills oriented, than it is curriculum specific subject oriented.
- Applied research is used more to help students to understand the content of the subject fully and to provide solutions to community-based problems.
- The University Early Childhood Labs are very critical for students’ experiential
- The University influences and drives policies and agendas within the community.
- The use of libraries by the community and the concept of mobile libraries.
The way forward of this project is that we continue with the projects and we expect delegates from Iowa State by mid-next year 2024. We continue to share best practices as far as rural education is concerned through a number of publications and set up innovative strategies and places at our university.
