The Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences is fairly new at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. The history of the Faculty starts in 2007, when curricula were developed for two health related programmes. The first programmes to be offered were a professional Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences, and a professional Bachelor in Environmental Health.
In February 2008, the first students were enrolled. The Department of Health Sciences was formally established under the Faculty of Engineering. The staff establishment consisted of a consultant with many years of working experience in South African Universities of Technology, two full time and two part time staff members. During the course of 2008 and 2009 more staff members were appointed, most of them having many years of working experience in the Namibian Health Sector. Currently the Faculty has an extensive staff establishment, including laboratory staff to support practical teaching.
In March 2009 the first students were taken in for the National Higher Certificate in Emergency Medical Care. This programme was embarked upon after the Department had been approached by the City of Windhoek, and the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF). The MVAF has generously supported students from the beginning, and the collaboration with Namibia University of Science and Technology is ongoing.
In October 2009, Senate approved the establishment of the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences. The Faculty consists of three Departments, namely; Mathematics and Statistics, Health Sciences and Natural and Applied Sciences.
On the 7th of May 2010 the Dean of the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences Prof Sylvester Moyo, was inaugurated. Under his guidance the Faculty is moving towards a research focus, and some staff members have enrolled for staff development programmes. For 2011, several research projects were approved by the Institutional Research and Publication Committee. The Faculty currently has 18 state of the art training laboratories in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences Building on campus. In 2010 funding was awarded by the Ministry of Education to construct a new building which hosts the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences.
A lot of development took place over the past year, and the next challenge is to enhance research activities in the Faculty. From the time of the first intakes until present, very good collaboration with partner institutions and donors prevailed, and the input and support received from them is valued.