Gurvy Kavei 
University of Namibia’s Recent (2007-2018) Doctoral Models in a Knowledge-Economy [PDF ebook] 
Their Contribution to a Knowledge Economy in the recent past

Academic Paper from the year 2022 in the subject Pedagogy – Higher Education, grade: A, University of Namibia , language: English, abstract: This study had a purpose to understand the University of Namibia (UNAM)’s Doctoral Models and their performance in the recent past – 2012 to present. The method used was a simple desktop literature review on doctoral studies, the Namibian economy, state of higher education in the country, UNAM’s Policies and Practices on Doctoral studies, and performance of UNAM’s doctoral programs. It was found that the university is conformant to most international and national docterateness standards. As such there cannot be much doubt in terms of the quality of doctoral degrees that UNAM produces. However, limited doctoral supervisor’s capacity, over dependent on Ph D by research mode – ignoring many other approaches, and the linkage of university financing formula to enrolment figures than to graduate figures – a disincentive to potential supervisors, are critically compromising the university performance with regard to numbers of Ph D outputs. The effect is evident in poor fairing of the University on research, patents and industrial designs – a clear warning that the university fall far too shot of being a significant player in the aspiration of Namibian becoming a knowledge economy. Therefore, the study strongly recommends a change in the University financing formula by government (to take into account institutional outputs), investing more training and development for supervisory capacity, as well as more public investment into the production of intellectual property to enable the university to compete with its peers locally, regionally and internationally. Future empirical tracer study research need to narrow on the role Ph D graduates play in a knowledge economy