National Qualifications Frameworks - Namibia

• Acronyms
• Overview
• Objectives
• Legal Framework
• Organisational Structure
• Standard Setting
• Contacts

Acronyms

• MHETEC Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation
• NQA Namibian Qualifications Authority
• SADC South African Development Community
• WVTC Windhoek Vocational Training Centre

The idea of establishing a National Qualification Framework in Namibia emerged sometime ago, which led to the promulgation of the Namibia Qualification Act, No. 29 of 1996. The Act led to the establishment of the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA) with the mandate of setting up and administering a national qualifications framework for Namibia. The framework is still being developed; however, various standard setting committees are now in place and the work is progressing¹. The NQF initiative is also a response to the SADC protocol that attempts to unify the qualification standards in the region.

Background

The importance of obtaining qualifications has been well acknowledged by Namibians as a means of improving their quality of life and this has led to increased demand for education and training, thus qualifications. While many private institutions were offering various training programmes (and certificates), the quality of their programmes was regarded doubtful. At the same time, 90% of Namibians in the workforce did not have a qualification in the field of their work (the 1991 census). Without officially recognised qualifications, upward mobility of the majority of workers had been constrained².

The National Qualifications Framework provides multiple pathways for Namibians to gain qualifications and to redress the injustices of the past by recognising the competencies of Namibians regardless of where they are educated.

Legal Framework

• Legislation
  • Namibia Qualification Act, Act No. 29 of 1996

The Namibia Qualifications Authority³  was established with the express mandate to put in place a comprehensive and flexible National Qualifications Framework, which would provide multiple pathways for Namibians to gain qualifications and redress the injustices of the past by recognising the competencies of Namibians regardless of where they learnt these.

The composition of the NQA consists of members drawn from a wide spectrum of stakeholders such as employers, education/training providers, Unions and various professional bodies. There are also full-time employees of the Ministry of Higher Education who serves as the secretariat of the NQA.

This authority has since then been tasked with the following responsibilities⁴:

• Setting up and administering a National Qualification Framework;
• Creating a forum for matters pertaining to qualifications;
• Setting the occupational standards for any occupation, job, post or position in any career;
• Development of the curriculum standards required for achieving the occupational standards for a given job, post or position in any career structure;
• Promotion of the development of and to analyse, bench marks of acceptable performance norms for any job or position;
• Accreditation of persons, institutions and organizations providing education and training courses that meets certain requirements;
• Evaluation and recognition of competencies learnt outside formal education;
• Establishment of facilities for collecting and dissemination of information pertaining to qualification;
• Provision of services of evaluating the qualifications of almost 40 000 Namibians who have obtained qualifications abroad was established. This service enabled these Namibians to find jobs and to play a full role in the economic and social development of Namibia.

The Namibia Qualifications Authority takes the overall responsibility of defining Namibia’s standards in all sectors where education and training take place, which establishes policy and procedures for the evaluation and accreditation of qualifications in education and training and which establishes policy and procedures for accrediting providers of courses aimed at national standards.

At the same time, the development of standards is firmly the responsibility of industry and it is done so in consultation with designated National Standard Setting Bodies.

Various designated committees, which consist of experts of respective occupational fields, are entrusted with the task of setting standards. These committees look into what is already available, and see if it is sufficient and improve on those shortcomings. However, there are some areas where there is virtually nothing available. In these cases standards need to be developed from scratch, or look into what other countries are doing and use those standards as a basis, and adapt them to suit our own situation.

The existing international standards are also used as guidelines for determining the standards. It is considered that the country cannot afford to train people below international standards, otherwise our qualifications will not be recognized anywhere in the world.

Contacts

Namibia Qualifications Authority
Contact Department and address:
Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation
Private Bag 13391, Windhoek
Tel.: +264-61-270-6111
Fax.: +264-61-253-672
Ministry Affiliation:
Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation

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