Namibia: Northern Campus of the University of Namibia

· Annual student population: 60% of the population of Namibia

· 119 total Pathways students

· Pathways participant since 2005

The Northern Campus of the University of Namibia is a public university located in Oshakati, Namibia, 50 kilometres from the Angolan border.

Web site: www.unam.na

Goals
The Northern Campus of the University of Namibia's Pathways to Higher Education program strives to increase access to higher education in science for historically marginalized students in the North Central provinces of the country. To provide higher education access to more students, the University's Pathways program is focused on developing or improving:

• Outreach and recruitment practices
• Integrated science curricula
• Professional development of faculty
• Research methods of learning and teaching of science

Target Population
The Pathways program has helped the Northern Campus of the University of Namibia reach out to students from low-income families in rural and remote areas. Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, great strides have been made to improve schools and infrastructure, but most rural students are still under-prepared for higher education.

Outcomes
To date, the University’s Pathways program has:

• Improved admissions policies and recruitment practices
• Improved science, mathematics and language courses
• Enrolled most of the faculty in post-graduate science or mathematics education degrees
• Sent 36 students into the first year of a Bachelor of Science or Agriculture or Pre-Medical degree program

• University of Namibia presentation by Elizabeth Ngololo