The University of Namibia and the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS) will extend its cooperation for another four years. This was decided at the institutional annual of both partners in Tromsö, Norway, last week. The NCFS helped Unam create a Bachelor degree in Fisheries and Marine Sciences, supported by US $2.8 million from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. So far, 35 students completed that degree.

Based on experiences of the past five years, it is now planned to improve the profile of the study programme, to recruit a lot more students from other SADC countries for that degree course and to strengthen staff development. Both the outgoing vice-chancellor of Unam, Prof. Peter Katjavivi and Dr Knut Heen, rector of the NCFS, agreed that it was also tremendously important to get research projects within fisheries and marine sciences running alongside the teaching programme.