Interview with Dr Sam John

Dean of the Engineering Faculty at the University of Science and Technology NUST

On the occasion of the B360 Rietberg Event of June 27, 2018

Nine years ago, and only a few months after B360 was founded, the first B360 voluntary expert Christian Merz, a specialist in CNC, Robotics and FMS, started his assignment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Your department was the pilot for both B360 and NUST (then Polytechnic of Namibia).

What was the specific reason for this collaboration?

When B360 approached us and asked us if we would like to have some kind of a University/Industry collaboration, that seemed very interesting to me. It was something new since we are used to collaborate with Universities only.

So I told Sabina that we had a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine standing in our department that could have been integrated in our curriculum. But nobody knew how to operate it. Could we get somebody to operate it? I explained to her the kind of assistance we needed. She went to the lab, took pictures and asked a lot of questions. By the time she came back she had linked with Christian Merz. 

How did the people in your department perceive the B360 expert and working with him?

It was a very, very positive feeling because Christian is also a very friendly, multilingual person with a rich history and background. He came and looked at the machine and helped us to get it up and running. I assigned two of my staff to work with him. They got really very enthusiastic when Christian showed them the programming and operation of the machine, and introduced them to a CNC programming software with 3D simulation.


The collaboration with B360 went on, Christian Merz returned several times for longer periods of time. Beside CNC and Robotics courses for students, the FMS laboratory was upgraded, the Engineering Skills course for the first year students was revised, and on your initiative a quality control program for Engineering Laboratories was initiated.

What are the main benefits or advantages of this on-going, long-term collaboration and exchange of know-how for your department and for the students? 

We discovered that Christian possessed huge experience also in other fields, i.e. management of laboratories, setting up of workshops, organizing the engineering skills course, and that was also part of our first interaction with Christian. When I saw this, I thought it would be nice to improve the safety in our workshop and the way we keep and maintain our tools. Because a little later, I visited Switzerland with Christian Merz. He took me to a couple of technical schools, and I saw how things were being done there.

I wanted my workshop to look like the workshops in Switzerland. Why not? So Christian helped us organize our workshop to also look orderly and in good shape. He also combined the existing robot and the CNC machine to an FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System) that enriched our curriculum. One of the students who attended his training was subsequently hired and is the one who is now responsible for the FMS laboratory. 

In 2015, Tomas Shikongo, a Mechanical Engineering student, was selected for a 3-month internship with Ferrum AG in Switzerland. Meanwhile, two more students from your department were given the opportunity to gain practical experience in Switzerland. How did Tomas and the other two students benefit from this Internship? 

Enormously! When Tomas came back, he was highly motivated, he had seen the way things were done in Switzerland, how engineers do their work. He became very focused and very committed to his work, his entire attitude had changed, his eyes and mind opened. The same happened to the other two students who went to Switzerland. They think more broadly.

Namibian students are a little bit quiet. You have to get them out of their shells to get them involved. Maybe you know that most of our students are the first University students in their family. They do not have an example of maybe an uncle or an elder brother who has gone to University. They only know what they have seen around them. So when they come to Switzerland they see more and experience more, they realize that they can achieve more than what they imagined. This has really made the students open their eyes and be very, very motivated.

In fact, one of the students won the Best Student’s Award of the 4th year. Meanwhile, all three students have finished their degree and are fully employed. 


Has the experience gained by the interns had an impact on the other students in the department?

Yes, a great deal. When there is an advert for Students internships, everybody applies, and we have to try to choose the right students to make the most of the opportunity. We test them to see how enthusiastic and how committed they are. We don’t want to send people that just go to Switzerland to have a nice time. They should learn, they should engage. That has created the interest for people wanting to go to Switzerland.


How do you see the job opportunities – and/or challenges – for young engineers in Namibia?

In Namibia, the biggest industry that absorbs our engineers is the mining sector. Of course, as we produce more engineers (our faculty of engineering is the oldest such faculty in Namibia), more and more people are taking up a job. At the moment we don’t have problems with unemployment with our graduates. They get a job maybe within 6 months after graduation, and some get job offers even when they are still completing their studies.

The next stage for me is to teach the students to become more entrepreneurial. We should establish contacts between senior students and some well-organized, effective and efficient small and medium sized companies here. Current and former students could come to us with any business ideas, and we would facilitate their partnering with others. That will promote the establishment of innovative small businesses in our country, similar to your spin-offs.


What is your wish for the partnership between your department and B360 in the future?

One of my next projects that could be interesting for B360 is the establishment of a small, inexpensive and hands-on Nanotechnology laboratory similar to one I visited in Switzerland with Christian. It would be great if B360 could give us the necessary support with an expert in this field.

Another benefit of Christian being with us is the connection of the Department of Mechanical Engineering with Namibian companies operating CNC equipment. Christian looked around in Windhoek for companies with CNC machines. We got the addresses from him and were able to make contacts. Among them is the Windhoek branch of a German company called Borries Marking Systems where they produce high precision components. Meanwhile, we are partnering with the manager to continue with the CNC training because it is the same type of machine that we have. Even though we are in the same country, Christian from Switzerland was able to make the connection! To me, the collaboration with B360 is great – apart from the friendship. So this is really a very, very successful story, and the impact of B360 is huge. Most of the experts I worked with are very patient, very professional. It is a big story for us!