Admission of grade 11 candidates unlikely at Unam

The University of Namibia (Unam) is reluctant to admit learners exiting school at grade 11 through the new Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary level (NSSCO) curriculum. The new curriculum was officially implemented during the 2020 academic year.

Speaking about the re-opening of institutions of higher learning at the Covid-19 Communication Centre in Windhoek on Friday, the acting communications and marketing director at Unam, John Haufiku said it is unlikely that the candidates who exited school in grade 11 will be admitted at Unam this year as the university received over 21 000 applications for this academic year.

He said although the NSSCO grade 11 candidates are eligible to apply to university, when it comes to admission, Unam is leaning more towards the grade 12 candidates who are the majority.

“If we don’t take that principle decision, where do the grade 12 learners go because these are huge numbers,” he stated. He highlighted that Unam only has space for 5 000 to 7 000 new students.

“The whole objective of this review at basic education was to improve the quality of basic education of students that are coming to university, so Unam would like to see a lot of Grade 11 learners going through to their Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level so that we see how they perform at the end of this year and we will then be able to make informed decisions about how we are going to move from 2022 and beyond,” Haufiku added.

He said the decision made by the university does not mean that they don’t recognise the NSSCO (grade 11) certificate but that it is just something that they are going to investigate thoroughly.

Centre for Open and Lifelong Learning Director at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Delvaline Mӧwes said that as indicated in the NUST guide for prospective students, the grade 11 candidates may apply for admission.

“However, every prospective student need to keep in mind that the fact that they meet the minimum requirements for a specific programme does not guarantee admission as final selections will be conducted,” she noted. The International University of Management (IUM) welcomed the grade 11 candidates more warmly.

At the same discussion, IUM registrar, Aquilinus Nashilundo stated that the NSSCO certificate awarded to grade 11 learners is on the exact same level as that of the grade 12 candidates, adding that on this basis they have no reason to reject the grade 11 candidates.