Building an AI-ready workforce in Namibia

When a master's student in logistics and transportation at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) sat down to finish her thesis, she turned to a resource that hadn't been available a year earlier: online modules on artificial intelligence from MIT Open Learning. 

She used what she learned to inform her work, and graduated shortly after.

She was one of over 1,100 students, faculty, and staff who participated in NUST's pilot of Universal AI, MIT Open Learning's online, self-paced, modular program that takes a learner from AI novice to confident practitioner. The pilot ran from January to June 2026 at one of Namibia's largest universities, which serves more than 15,000 students.

The pilot’s timing was significant. Across Namibia's key economic sectors—green and blue energy, logistics and transportation, and health—employers increasingly want graduates who can work confidently with AI. At the same time, a new government subsidy and shifting student expectations were prompting NUST to invest in its educational infrastructure.

Growing need for online learning and AI skills

Demand is growing in Namibia for graduates skilled in AI to support high-growth fields like green hydrogen, logistics, and healthcare. Universal AI’s industry-specific, vertical modules in energy, sustainability, transportation, and healthcare are particularly relevant. 

"You cannot go into the industry if you don't know how to use AI," says Helena Imene, instructional designer at NUST and program manager of the pilot. "That is why the Universal AI program mattered—people needed to introduce themselves to what AI is."

New enrollment pressures added urgency. Beginning in 2026, the Namibian government introduced a subsidy covering the cost of undergraduate education for young adults at state-run universities. NUST expects a significant enrollment increase and needs the physical and academic infrastructure to absorb it. 

The university had already begun building one important piece of that infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted NUST to expand online learning. Many students now prefer to take most of their courses online, and faculty have broadly embraced online delivery.

"The pandemic really pushed us to prove that online learning could work at scale for NUST," Imene said. "It showed us that flexibility in how and where students learn doesn't have to come at the expense of quality."

NUST's existing relationship with MIT Open Learning made the two institutions natural collaborators. At NUST, Imene, who works in the Academic Development Support, Teaching, Learning and Technology (ADSTLT) department, led the effort. Instructional design remains an emerging discipline in Namibia, which made her stewardship of an international collaboration both notable and visible across the institution.

Engaging key stakeholders early 

Imene previewed the pilot in June 2025 at the Great Teachers Workshop, an annual NUST event that trains lecturers on emerging trends in teaching, learning, and technology, including AI. The workshop built early buy-in. 

“[The workshop] brings together our academic staff and gives us a natural platform to introduce new initiatives like this one directly to the people who'll be using them in the classroom,” says Imene. 

She then announced the pilot to the full NUST community in January 2026, reaching learners by email and Facebook and sending reminders every Monday. Thanks to the Facebook posts, the news of the pilot reached beyond the walls of NUST, and alumni began calling to ask whether they could join.

Imene found that two messages resonated strongly with participants. The first was the career value of an MIT Open Learning certificate, which signals AI fluency and carries a recognized name.  The second was the motivating power of modular learning, which lets participants mark tangible progress at smaller milestones rather than waiting until the end of a long course.

Impact on an individual learner and institutional level 

Participants told Imene the program left them feeling empowered. Several put the credential to work immediately, adding their certificates to LinkedIn profiles and resumes. NUST lecturers took modules in their own disciplines and encouraged students to do the same.

Salmie Sakarias, a lecturer in business and entrepreneurship who completed the AI and Entrepreneurship vertical module, says, “it has given me insight on how to incorporate AI and entrepreneurship in the content I am already teaching and, further, how students can leverage AI in their potential business.”

The pilot's influence also turned inward. NUST's ADSTLT department began benchmarking its own Moodle courses against Universal AI's instructional design principles and the user interface of MIT Learn, the platform that Universal AI is hosted on. In the process, the pilot raised the department's profile inside the university and elevated the standing of instructional design as a discipline.

For Imene, the pilot proved the appetite for Universal AI was there. Though the pilot has closed, NUST is exploring ways to keep Universal AI within reach of its community.

Learn more about Universal AI and how MIT Open Learning works with institutions worldwide to build AI competencies.