I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the University of Namibia, Neudamm Campus. I hope you will witness our commitment to agriculture and veterinary sciences in terms of training, research, farming and community service. Our vision is to become a centre of excellence in agriculture and veterinary sciences. This vision enables us to directly address the University Strategic Plan (USP) 2016-2020, the fourth National Development Plan (NDP4), the country's National Vision 2030 and the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP).
Neudamm Campus has excellent hostel and outdoor recreational facilities for students aspiring to study at the Campus. The majority of the students studying at Neudamm Campus are accommodated in hostels, although few are driving to and from Windhoek on a daily basis. The Campus has sport facilities for soccer and rugby, a Gym for students and staff members, tennis and netball courts and a Kiosk to provide for students’ well-being.
The Campus has state of the art classrooms and laboratories for teaching and research. Academics and students are able to respond to their curiosity through researching various agriculture issues within the laboratories. Our academic staff are collaborating with other academics across the world to conduct research at the Campus using the laboratories and on farm animals that are complemented by excellent handling facilities. Various institutions use the animals and handling facilities to provide practical training to communal, commercial and resettled farmers. Students from our sister university and those attending vocational training are attached to the farm to gain the necessary practical training. The Namibia Veterinary Council make use of our facilities and animals to evaluate veterinarians for registration. We are proud of our contribution to capacity building and skills development of the Namibian nation.
The Campus is planning to develop state of the art facilities to support our flagship School of Veterinary Medicine (SoVM) programme. To facilitate practical training an Animal Teaching Hospital for large animals (both livestock and wildlife) will soon be constructed at Neudamm Campus, while the small animals' hospital will be at the main campus in Windhoek. A veterinary clinic for treatment of animals on the farm and for teaching is being operated by SoVM veterinarians on the farm. These facilities will provide for experiential learning for our students.
In addition, we endeavour to position the Neudamm Campus as the agricultural research hub for the University of Namibia. The vast tracks of farming land, biological diversity, and close proximity to the other UNAM campuses in Windhoek present great opportunity for research and teaching collaborations by academics and students of Windhoek campuses. I, therefore, invite academics across faculties at the Windhoek based-Campuses to visit us, in order to explore research collaborations.
