RWTH: RWTH Establishes Partnerships With Universities in Namibia

RWTH Aachen University is establishing close partnerships with the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the University of Namibia, the two best universities in the African country. Initially, collaboration is to be established in research and academics, as well as knowledge transfer and administration. As a topic of great future relevance, Green hydrogen will play a central role since Namibia plans to become one of the major hydrogen producers of the future. A national Namibia Green Hydrogen Research Institute was recently founded to guide the development of the hydrogen economy in the country. RWTH, in turn, has pooled its expertise in this field in the Center for Sustainable Hydrogen Systems and the Hydrogen Clusters4Future. Other areas of collaboration with the Namibian universities include climate change and adaptation, mining, sustainable logistics, theology and linguistics, and occupational and social medicine.

The initiative to establish partnerships with countries in the Global South has been in place since 2019 and is not only part of expanding RWTH’s internationalization strategy but also an essential component of the University’s sustainability strategy. In the context of this initiative, Namibia is a strategic target country for the University, according to Professor Ute Habel, Vice-Rector for International Affairs at RWTH. “Global challenges such as climate change, energy security issues, and sustainable structural change will be at the heart of the collaboration. It will all revolve around ways to drive and support the emergence of the hydrogen economy,” explains Habel.

After an RWTH delegation travelled to Namibia in September – the trip being financed by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD – the return visit had been eagerly anticipated. Vice Chancellor Professor Kenneth Matengu, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation & Development Professor Anicia Peters, Director Corporate Engagement & International Relations Dr. Marius Kudumo, and Director Namibia Green Hydrogen Research Institute Dr. Zivayi Chiguvare from the University of Namibia now visited RWTH. Among others, they toured the Center for Mobile Propulsion as the central location of the future hydrogen cluster and talked about future collaboration with experts from science and industry.