The mission of the School of Postgraduate Studies is to promote excellence amongst postgraduate staff and students through responsive teaching, postgraduate studies research and supervision, scholarship and instructional pastoral support.
The main objective of the School of Postgraduate Studies is to become a Postgraduate Studies School of repute that effectively enables UNAM to fulfil its national Postgraduate education and training mandate.
The School of Postgraduate Studies has the mandate to coordinate the University of Namibia’s Postgraduate Programmes in a manner that uniform quality control regulations and procedures are strictly adhered to and high academic standards are maintained. In addition to providing postgraduate students with high quality academic, ICT, psychosocial and social-emotional support services, the School is mandated to build capacity for the expression of excellence in teaching, student research supervision and innovation amongst postgraduate staff. The roles and responsibilities of the School of Postgraduate Studies are to:
- Coordinate and monitor the running of University of Namibia postgraduate programmes; including externally supported postgraduate training programmes to ensure quality control and the maintenance of high academic standards
- Coordinate the consideration and processing of postgraduate student research proposals, theses and dissertations;
- Coordinate and administer viva voce examinations;
- Review all new and existing postgraduate programmes offered either by the University of Namibia or through the University of Namibia;
- Provide academic support services to postgraduate students such as those of study programme information dissemination, supervision, academic Counselling and pastoral care, enrolment, registration, examination, compensatory capacity enhancement, postgraduate level ICT empowerment and access to electronic resources for study purposes, postgraduate study resource mobilization and any other services germane to the optimal provision of postgraduate studies;
- Provide postgraduate students with opportunities to interact and determine their own welfare through the envisaged postgraduate students association and the postgraduate students newsletter;
- Enforce common regulations on PGS programme structures, admissions, enrolment, registration, assessment, PGS progression rules and termination of registration rules;
- Operate administrative and academic structures for applying research ethics in postgraduate training and in the use of human and animal subjects in research conducted by postgraduate students;
- Empower academic staff, through short courses, workshops and seminars, to teach at the postgraduate level, conduct effective student supervision and lead viable collaborative staff/student research teams;
- Consider and assess the viability, quality and accreditation issues of new postgraduate programmes;
- Initiate, formulate, interpret, and review postgraduate studies regulations.
Currently postgraduate supervisors and graduate students research training courses/workshops on data analysis are conducted in the University training laboratories. However, plans are at an advanced stage to construct a dedicated PGS building with state of the art laboratories and student Resource Centre to enhance the research, teaching/learning of postgraduate students.
