As Namibia charts its future as a young independent nation, its universities stand at the heart of transformation. During a recent Erasmus+ funded mobility at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, I witnessed how introducing service design principles can spark new ways of thinking about education, entrepreneurship, and social innovation.
Understanding Namibia’s higher education landscape
The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), and the higher education sector as a whole, has a vital role to play in designing Namibia’s next chapter. Situated in the capital city, Windhoek, the University straddles the affluent and the marginalised. Windhoek itself reflects striking contrasts from giant homes with pools to makeshift corrugated metal shacks of Katutura’s informal settlements. These divides have deep historical roots and continue to shape daily life.
Since gaining independence from South Africa in 1990, Namibia is forging its own path as a sovereign nation. Yet the journey is far from simple. In a rapidly changing world, where the national unemployment rate sits somewhere between 30-50% depending on who is counted and how – as a reminder of the scale of the challenges ahead.
During my visit to NUST in October 2025 on an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility exchange, I was able to see first hand some of the endemic challenges they have in front of them. While I was there, the Namibian Parliament had a big discussion about the current findings of the Anti-Corruption Commission that has been tasked with tracking and bringing corrupt practices and individuals to light. This is one of the big detracters of investment in Africa in general, so this is an important step to build trust, not only, between Namibians and their own government but also for anyone who wants to invest from abroad. These are giant tasks and NUST is part of building this trust.
Bringing service design to NUST: A collaborative exchange
A university, in its most basic form, is a collection of services – for students, staff, community actors, local businesses, governments, etc. This means that service design is really important for university infrastructure and experiences for all of those stakeholders. And in a country where entrepreneurship is seen as a path out of unemployment, learning to think in human-centred ways can help students design ventures that respond to real community needs.
While at NUST, I was hosted by the Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Partnerships (DRIP) and housed in their NUSTi (NUST Innovation) unit. With the help of Silas Newaka and Dr Paulus Shigwedha, I was able to design a lecture for the NUST staff members on service design.
The event was titled How to fix what does not work: Using service design to get innovative solutions to everyday and extraordinary problems. I used this title because I wanted people to realise that it is useful for both kinds of problems because that is what they have in Namibia. There was a cross-section of attendees from students, to teachers, and university leadership. There was very positive interaction during the talk and positive feedback at the end. The way I presented service design and how it can be used to understand people and their needs was very interesting to everyone in the room.
Challenging assumptions through human-centred exercises
The participants really connected to the concept of understanding the real problem when I introduced the airport bathroom problem to them. This is a short exercise that is focused around the two sentences: “Older travellers use the bathroom three times more often than youngsters.” “How might we improve the airport experience for the older travellers?”
We discussed the ideas the participants had in this issue. There were many solutions offered. But the point of this is to point out that the reasoning is not known. Any ideas or solutions provided are not based on facts, only guessing and assumptions. The real reason for the actions of the older travellers were a shock to the audience and it showed that assumptions can easily lead people away from the real issue.
This exercise was an enlightening experience and a quick way to understand that when you jump to solutions too early, you can mis-understand the whole issue and begin to solve problems that don’t really exist. Showing the waste of resources that can happen. This led to a broader discussion about how services are currently being designed in the institution.
Additionally, the point that really interested the attendees was the difference between being customer-focused and customer-centric. The fact that being customer-focused is just about an organisation coming together to discuss what they think users and customers need without any meaningful discussion with them while customer-centric is about centering the user/customer and having in-depth discussions with them regarding their context, needs, wants, and values. These result in very different levels of knowledge.
Innovation begins with empathy
With the subsequent review of the time I spent at NUST on the last day of my visit, I could see the impact of introducing service design methods and tools. The staff were enthusiastic about attending a service jam in the future and learning more about service design in curriculum for the students and as a staff development training. For this, I was able to share the Metropolia-created MOOC Service Design Sprint.
Introducing service design in Namibia reminded me that innovation begins with empathy. Whether in Windhoek, Helsinki, or anywhere else, designing with people – not just for them, is the first step towards inclusive growth. The desire to create better student experiences and staff and stakeholder experiences was strong with those who attended the session that I taught. They could see a direct link between what they do professionally and how these skills, especially human-centred design, could be utilised to unlock innovation in the workplace and in their entrepreneurship ecosystem that they serve.
Author
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Pamela Spokes
Specialist, TurbiiniPamela Spokes BA, MA, MBA, AmO. Educator in Service Design and Entrepreneurship with the Turbiini Pre-Incubator Programme in English.
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