A graduate of the University of Namibia (Unam) on Saturday left the country to pursue studies in Japan, courtesy of a Japanese scholarship. Alina Uusiku, who holds a Masters degree in chemistry from Unam, will join the applied chemistry of chemical engineering progamme, where she will advance her research study in science. Uusiku would initially undertake a six-month Japanese language course in Tokyo. This was all made possible through a full Japanese government scholarship programme offered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). “Experiencing the challenges of lacking and expensive power energy in rural areas in Namibia has motivated her to further continue her studies,” according to a press release issued by the Embassy of Japan in Namibia. Uusiku, accompanied by Dr Daniel Likius, a former MEXT scholarship recipient who is also a lecturer in the department of chemistry and biochemistry and chairman of the research and publication committee of the faculty of science, paid a courtesy call on Japan’s Ambassador to Namibia, Hideyuki Sakamoto. Sakamoto wished Uusiku well in her advanced study in Japan. She is the seventh Namibian research student to receive the MEXT scholarship since its inception in Namibia in 2006. “The total number of research students fully sponsored by the government of Japan to date is ten, including the MEXT scholarship, and five are currently studying in Japan,” according the Japanese embassy. The Embassy of Japan in view of its establishment of a resident embassy in Windhoek last year, would like to enhance such academic exchanges among other bilateral cooperation with the aim of “strengthening bilateral relations, as well as for nation building,” the Japanese Embassy said in a statement.