Constantin May
Borna Müller

Cooperation with university staff

The first touchpoint we had with university staff was through Nico Smit, one of NUST’s International Relations Managers. Right from the outset, we could notice how much he cares for the success of the program and how dedicated he is to his work - ranging from strategic development of the program to practical and logistical operations. The faculty of Environment and Health Sciences (EHS) is an incredibly well organized department and the head and staff we met, were cooperative and very interested in the work we were doing. One could see how much they care for their students by applying the right measure of clarity and discipline. During our teaching work at the EHS department, we required some changes in the course program. We were very impressed about the department’s flexibility and helpfulness in adapting the course schedules and in coordinating with other lectures. To this point, we would like to thank in particular Mrs Felicitas Tjandero and Ms Charmaine Jansen.

Cooperation with students

The class we worked with during our 2-weeks assignment consisted of a very diverse group of individuals. While in the beginning, the students were very shy towards us and only appeared enageged and collaborative within their assigned working groups, we could observe a very rewarding progress of personal- and team development over time. What impressed us, were the discipline and endurance of the students, especially given the difficult economic and social situations some students lived in and which affected their daily routines. Of note, during the entrepreneurship session, at the end of the career starter week (our second week), the students exhibited very high levels of entrepreneurial spirit and had very creative business ideas. Therefore, for future courses, it may be considered to explore such business ideas at the very beginning and to build all subsequent teaching activities on these examples. Who knows, maybe some of these ideas could make it into real business activities.

Impact and win-win

The most notable impact we had was the improvement of attitude and self-confidence of the students over the course of the program. There is a lot of potential among the Namibian students and the program is one enabling factor for them to unleash it. We are proud to be part of those efforts; feel fulfilled and realized that we learned at least as much as the students – about values, ourselves and about another part of this planet and its people and nature.

Memorable events

The second-last day of our assignment, we practiced the students’ interviewing-skills by simulating job interviews in smaller groups. The fast progress we could observe from the start to the finish of the interviews was very inspiring and rewarding. The students gained so much self-confidence during this experience and finished the day fueled with positive energy. As already stated above, our absolute highlights were the presentations of entrepreneurial ideas, in parts so smart that even a lack of funding capital could be overcome.

Personal message

We are grateful for being part of B360’s vision and for having been given the opportunity to support this organization on their mission to exchange knowledge between Switzerland and Southern Africa. The ideas of developing the program further are endless and we are convinced, the organization will manage to materialize many more opportunities on their journey towards a maybe even entirely self-sustained activity.