Republikein Newspaper

Michelline Nawatises

Agnes Ulipamwe Nicodemus was born and raised at Oukwandongo village in the Omusati Region. She attended high school at Oshakati Secondary School and after that, she went to the University of Science and Technology (NUST) where she completed a bachelor’s degree and an honours degree in applied mathematics and statistics. She is a Statistician at the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

Her job is mostly about designing data collection tools, collecting and analysing data, and compiling the higher education statistical yearbook. Data on student enrolment in higher education institutions, number of programmes, pass rates, infrastructure, revenue and expenditure and staff numbers and qualification are the content of the education reporting which inform and drive educational planning.

She says her biggest challenges have been talking in front of people, which she overcame by opportunities granted to her to speak at meetings and presenting at conferences on higher education quality assurances.

“I also had difficulties of analysing data using SPSS which became part of the history after practising it in real-life situations, especially when working with Graduate Survey data. My educational attainment, efficiency at work and writing research papers are some of them.”

Her typical day consists of data analysis. “Excel is the everyday tool and communication to the higher education institutions,” she says. Nicodemus loves reading motivational books, travelling to different places as well as learning and seeing new things that inspire her to do and be better.

The advice she’d give to other young people is to always stay focused on what you want in life and never give up. “Your mind is your biggest tool to achieve what you want, always feed it positively.”

She plans to finish her master's degree, progress in her career and travel to a dream destination.

If she had an opportunity to change anything in the world, she would change our education system, which she feels like is just teaching people to be employees instead of job creators. “Financial literacy would be my big addition to the education system,” she says.