THE School of Postgraduate Studies

Mission

The mission of the School of Postgraduate Studies is to coordinate the University of Namibia Postgraduate Programmes in such a way that uniform quality control regulations and procedures are strictly adhered to and high academic standards are maintained. The object of this is to produce advanced graduates who would competently serve Namibia with commitment of purpose and integrity.  Furthermore, the mission of the school is to promote postgraduate studies through responsive excellence in research, teaching, entrepreneurship, scholarship, innovation, creativity, ingenuity and service amongst staff and their postgraduate students.

Functions

The functions of the School of Postgraduate Studies are to:

• enforce common regulations pertaining to applying for admission into postgraduate programmes, admission procedures, enrolment procedures, registration procedures, uniform structures of postgraduate programmes, assessment procedures and termination of registration rules;

•  enforce University-wide common regulations governing postgraduate diplomas, Master’s degrees by course work and dissertation, Master’s degrees by research, Doctor of Philosophy degrees, sandwich programmes and Higher Doctorates;

• oversee the assessment, grading and progression of graduate students by implementing procedures for the preparation and submission of theses at the master’s and doctoral levels, enforcing guidelines on copyright issues, the common format for citing references, etc;  

• operate administrative and academic structures for applying research ethics in postgraduate training and in the use of human and animal subjects in research conducted by academic members of staff and postgraduate students;

• empower academic staff, through short courses, workshops and seminars, to teach at the postgraduate level, conduct effective student supervision and lead viable collaborative staff/student research teams; 

• consider and assess the viability, quality and accreditation issues of new postgraduate programmes;

• initiate, formulate, interpret and review postgraduate studies’ regulations;

• coordinate and administer viva voce examinations;

• periodically undertake meta-reviews of all postgraduate programmes offered either by the University of Namibia or through the University of Namibia.