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Welcoming remarks by Prof. Tjama Tjivikua, Vice Chancellor, NUST, on the occasion of the seminar "Towards sustainable tourism in Namibia: Management models and trends, 9 July 2013, Windhoek.
No full textTowards Sustainable Tourism in Namibia Seminar (2013 Jul. 9 : Windhoek
Preserving oral traditions: Some reflections on students' performances during cultural festivals held at the NUST (Namibia's University of Science and Technology) from 2009 to 2012.
No full textThis paper analyses the role of tertiary institutions in the preservation of oral traditions and cultures in Namibia, with specific reference to cultural festivals held from 2009 to 2012 at the NUST. A number of institutions in Namibia hold annual cultural festivals in keeping with the Namibian cultural policy that is based on unity in diversity. The NUST cultural festival reflects the diversity of cultures within the NUST community to represent the multi-cultural environment of the institution. The study argues that, by hosting cultural festivals, institutions such as the NUST play a leading role in the preservation of material and oral cultures of people. Preservation of oral traditions is made possible when the performances at such festivals are recorded and used as authentic sources for teaching within tertiary institutions. Interviews with students doing the Bachelor of Communication degree at the NUST indicate that if such materials are used for teaching, students are inspired to learn more about such cultures. In addition to teaching, preservation is achieved through publicity in the media, scholarly publications, and social networking. In the study, I employed a descriptive analysis within the framework of ethnography of communication
Financial development and economic growth: Empirical evidence from Namibia (1990Q1-2011Q4).
No full textI attempt to empirically establish the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Namibia using the cointegration framework. The main objectives of the article are to econometrically determine the nexus between financial development and economic growth using multivariate Granger causality tests, impulse response functions and variance decomposition, as well as propose some policy alternatives for the policy makers. The article contributes to macroeconomic literature on the financial development-economic growth relationship given the fact that it is one of the few researches on the same topic ever done on Namibia. The article finds that there is a unidirectional relationship between financial development and economic growth in Namibia running from economic growth to financial development. The findings imply that Namibia realises financial sector development when the economy grows and not the other way round. The fact that the financial services sector is not significantly influencing economic growth in Namibia is a real cause for concern which implies that either the banking sector is too small to have any significant impact on the economy or it is uncompetitive and therefore inefficient. The article recommends that one way of reforming the financial sector in Namibia is to subject it to some form of competition through the licensing of new banks, of course, taking into account the size of the Namibian market
Development of a computer-assisted School Information System for Namibian schools.
No full textThesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Technology at the NUSTInformation Technology (IT) is taking on greater significance and importance for bringing a lot of benefits to educational institutions such as schools. The benefits IT brings include enhancing productivity, improving efficiency, providing better service and knowledge sharing, increasing competitiveness, reducing costs, just to name a few. This has also led to
a rapid development of school information systems.
The aim of this research work was to analyse schools administration procedures and
construct a computer assisted system for administering Namibian government primary and
secondary schools in admission procedures, storing of officials documents, learners and
teachers records, attendance registry, storing learners examination grades and generate reports.
The population of the research survey was the government primary and secondary school
employees whereby teachers, secretaries and principals were interviewed. A judgmental
sampling was used to select the schools whereby the following criteria were used; schools that follow government procedures, schools with computers being used fulltime, school with a pass rate of 35% of grade 10 or grade 12 (for secondary school).The sample included three from Khomas region, one from Otjikoto region (North), two from Omusati region (North). The questionnaire, face to face interview, a focus group and the study of the Education EMIS questionnaire were used as data collection method for the research. The findings show that affordability of software and computers maintenance is possible from the school funds. One conclusion from the interview is that in one school out of six some schools there were low or poor acceptance and efficiency of the school administration
software they have purchased so they keep on switching between different software. A
Dynamic System Development method was selected and used in the design and
implementation of the software system, because of its rapid delivery of systems.
Therefore, the constructed system might solve some of the gaps exhibited while using
current School administration software, by providing features that are needed by the
schools. However due to time constraint the implementation of the system did not allow a
full usability test of the proposed solution.Supervisor: Prof. Hippolyte Nsung-Nza Muying
Logistics in Namibia: Issues and challenges, re-engineering for competitiveness.
No full textLogistics is perceived to be important for Namibia’s growth and development, but it is a matter of conjecture as there is a dearth of documented information about the industry in Namibia. Furthermore, it is uncertain what the understanding of “logistics” is for key stakeholders in the country. This project’s objectives are to address some of these issues and lay the foundation for a more thorough investigation. The findings from key stakeholders of the logistics industry in Namibia include: universal agreement on the importance of logistics to Namibia, the variety in the understanding of the term logistics, the strength of the continuing influence of South Africa as the dominant economic power in southern Africa and contrasting views on the main factors limiting logistics development, including: infrastructure, attitude, government, customs, training, railways, corruption and driver shortage.
The conclusions were published in the form of a conference paper showing the challenges and opportunities facing logistics in Namibia in 2012 (Jenkins et al., 2012). They were also disseminated as a report (Savage et al., 2012) and at a workshop in Walvis-bay, Namibia in September 2012. These reports, additional interviews and subsequent discussions highlighted some potential opportunities and problems. This paper summarises the initial phases of the project showing the methodology and findings; it then builds on that work to prioritise measures required to re-engineer Namibia’s logistics industry
Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Technology at the NUST.
No full textVoice over IP has been driven by the convergence of voice and data on a single transport medium.
This means cheaper service usage fees for the user if the offering is costed properly. But for a service
provider there is still an increase in expenditure, solely related to spending on infrastructure such as
call servers, phones and gateways. This study is aimed at analysing a different strategy of deploying
VoIP, by starting at a lower base, meaning hosting the VoIP application on inexpensive hardware and
open source Software. Secondly, the study looks at how to extend the service to mobile subscriber by
introducing a mobile VoIP (mVoIP) application. The study’s main goal is to introduce
telecommunication services at the lowest cost possible while considering reduced complexity,
optimisation, manageability and flexibility. Barriers to deploying VoIP such as reliability and quality
of service are also addressed by the study.
The mVoIP infrastructure is made out of the following main components: Mobile VoIP app, Wireless
Access Point and VoIP Server. Each main component’s functionality and characteristic are carefully
explored in order to understand its contribution to the solution and the study as a whole. The research
also looks at other projects where similar approaches were used to deploy inexpensive VoIP services.
Factors leading to acceptance or rejection of the technology have served as guidance to the study.
During the design, the research compares different open source VoIP server software’s functionalities
and features in order to make a selection of the software to use for the projects pilot network
deployment. A development platform for the mobile application is also selected based on
characteristics such as: the range of devices it runs on, the market share of the platform and the
learning curve of the platform. The development of the application follows the six steps from the Eri
Mobile’s “Mobile Development Process”: Concept Sketching, Research/Strategies, Wire-Framing,
User Interface Design, Development and Testing.
The test scenarios for the research are all lab-based, but it is highlighted that implementing the
solution on broadband, 3G and 4G networks can improve the service drastically in the areas of
network coverage, Quality of Service and Mobility
Welcome remarks by Prof. Tjama Tjivikua, Vice Chancellor, at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) International Diploma Graduation, 27 April 2013, Windhoek.
No full textChartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Graduation (2013 Apr. 27 : Windhoek, Namibia
Supply chain resilience: The possible application of triple bottom line costing to supply chain risk management.
No full textInternational Symposium on Logistics (18th : 2013 July 1-10 : Vienna, Austria)Within the context of the supply chain industry, the long term value of an organization equates to the fiscal metrics used in the classical definition of enterprise modified by the sustainability (or capacity to endure) of the activity.
Logistics practitioners and academics design logistics solutions with varying degrees of resilience and robustness in response to both internal and external forces. Supply chain disruption events test the resultant operations. A 2010 survey recorded 45% of the respondents as experiencing supply chain disruption within the past year and of these more than 50% incurred a loss of over US$1m (Banerjai et al, 2012). The industry is also experiencing more Black Swan incidents (Taleb, 2008) i.e. events that are a surprise to us and have a major impact on life, organizational value and sustainability.
The focus of this paper is on sustainability, how it should be gauged and how might supply chain resilience and triple bottom line costing (TBLC) influence the valuing of the organization. The underpinning research is based on previous work by the authors; it applies the principles proposed by Průša and Savage (2007) to the findings from a three round Delphic study (Gibson et al, 2011). The output of this has been examined in the light of other relevant literature to draw conclusions on the practical importance of supply chain resilience and the potential role of triple bottom line costing
Understanding systemic corruption
No full textDuring the last two decades the debate about corruption and ways to understand and contain it acquired a new intensity and concentrated focus. However, applications to contain it sustainably are of mixed success. The World Bank (WB) defined corruption as “the abuse of public office for private gain”. This is one of the most commonly used definitions of corruption within the public domain. The expanded definition of the WB distinguishes between „isolated‟ and „systemic‟ corruption, World Bank Report (1997: 9-10). The WB‟s definition fails to accept the general nature of corruption as being systemic - a concept that suggests interdependence on deviate behaviour in public and/or private sector institutions. Corruption is a function of dishonesty, a lack of integrity and the abuse of private and/or public office for personal gain. In order to understand corruption systemically, it should be perceived as a subsystem of a social system that is embedded in ethics, the economy, politics, science and technology, and aesthetics. Systemic corruption is not only an impairment of integrity, virtue and moral principle(s), but a departure from the original purpose, processes, structure, governance and context of systems created with the intention to be pure and correct and to enable development. The multidimensional dynamics of corruption to take on various „masks‟, make it an elusive phenomenon. As a complex subsystem, corruption takes on a life of its own that is self sustaining - corruption strengthens corruption. Corruption is a pervasive social pathology with various co-producers that all contribute to corruption. In the absence of root causes, systemic corruption cannot be analysed but needs to be dissolved in the context of the particular environment, taking into consideration the interrelationships between its structure, purpose, governance and processes. To address corruption sustainably, corruption should be first be understood as a complex systemic phenomenon
Welcome remarks by Prof. Tjama Tjivikua, Vice Chancellor, NUST, on the occasion of the Institutional Technology Day, 23 October 2013, Auditorium 1, NUST.
No full textNUST Institutional Technology Day (1st : 2013 Oct. 23 : Windhoek, Namibia