The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

The University of Botswana, which celebrates its Ruby Anniversary this year in October, is on a trajectory to become the leading net exporter of education.

Not only education but also a net exporter of knowledge-content, expertise, and advanced services and skills to the 1-member strong Southern African Development Community market and beyond.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Norris made these lofty remarks Wednesday 8^th June 2022 during the launch of the University of Botswana’s 40^th Anniversary Celebrations.

Norris, a paragon of erudition, whose boisterous leadership has been punctuated by bouts of lame skirmishes with sections of the University Staff Union, expressed confidence in the new strategic direction the University has embarked upon.

“As a national university, we stand ready to respond to the national needs with the kind of education and skills development that is effective for the future that all Batswana strive for and deserve”, he promised.

This assurance finds its grounding in the manner in which the University of Botswana was founded in 1982, following the breakaway of the Lesotho Campus from what originally was known as the University of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland (UBLS).

Prof. Norris said it was an open secret that the UB was founded by “the will of the People, who backed up their demand with donations of whatever resources they had to offer”.

He advised that when one sees today a truly National University with potential for wide impact as “a global gateway of education and skills” and a “source of human capital”, one must remember that this happened because ordinary citizens knew what a nation needed for its progress and took the practical steps to secure it entirely on their own.

And to locate the significance of the moment, Prof. Norris regaled his audience, among which was the Third President of the Republic, Dr. Festus Gontebanye Mogae, and other dignitaries with a short lecture on the value of milestones.

In life, he said, there are ages one reaches which can be deemed as milestone ages, twenty-one is one such age – when one enters adulthood and is socially considered to be no longer dependent on their parents and can legally “do certain things”. The other age, he said, is forty, another development stage, a time to figure out one’s priorities in life, a time to make a shift in life, a time for realignment and readjustment of one’s life.

“As a university, we have entered this particularly important development stage and the time is now that the University reflects on its past, it is time it introspects and questions itself as to whether it is still playing a truly meaningful role in the society”, Prof Norris said.

He said it was without doubt that the University has produced the human capital that has, and continues to play, a prominent role in the development of the country.

However, he said it was time that they asked themselves whether they are performing all the functions that they were set to perform.

What are these functions?

According to the Statute that established the University of Botswana, the functions of the University are:

• Providing higher education and training
• Advancing and disseminating knowledge through teaching
• Undertaking, promoting, and facilitating research and scholarly investigations
• Supporting and contributing to the realization of economic and social development of the nation
• Contributing to the cultural and social life of communities
• Contributing to the advancement of the intellectual and human resource capacity of the global community

• To drive the point home on the function that speaks to the role of undertaking, promoting, and facilitating research and scholarly investigations, Prof. Norris – perhaps to nudge Professors that fail the grade – repeated the Function and posed the rhetorical question, “Are our academic activities, research, engagement teaching helping this nation grow its economy”?

And for the other functions, he wondered whether the University of Botswana is generating knowledge that is consumed by the international community?

Or whether the UB is like the ordinary citizens, just consumers of knowledge generated by other Universities. “Are we globally felt? Are we generating products and services that are consumed or used by the world”?

For Prof. Norris, these are fundamental questions that the University of Botswana must address in its quest to remain relevant in a fast-changing global community.

In fact, it is self-evident that only when the University teaching Staff, Unions, and the Administration have dealt with these questions to their logical conclusion, will the cat and mouse games between the union and administration come to a screeching halt.

When that realization eventually dawns, then will the University generate its own income from its research output that impacts industry; the University will attract international students; it will be a high-performance organization (HPO) in which everyone directs their energies to the ends of the University Strategy and Vision.

“As we celebrate and indeed, we have reason to celebrate the 40years of our existence and achievements, we need to be looking into the future and it is compelling that we transform to become an ‘engaged’ University, a university that transforms lives”, Norris sounded the clarion call.

He said they are embarking on a transformation to be an increasingly outward-facing university, a key State-Owned Enterprise working in contexts such as economic hubs, clusters, accelerators, and centers of excellence and forming strategic partnerships that directly align with the national growth plan.

The launch was graced by the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr. Douglas Letsholathebe; Minister of Trade and Industry, Mmusi Kgafela; Assistant Minister of State President, Dumezweni M. Mthimkhulu; the Chancellor of the University of Botswana, Ms. Tebelelo Mazile-Seretse; Members of University Council; Chairman of the University Foundation, Mr. Abdul Satar Dada; Deputy Chairperson of UB Foundation, Mrs. Emeldah Mathe; Chancellor of Botswana Open University, Prof Sheila Tlou;  Mr. and Mrs. Potlako Molefhe, Coordinator of the Botswana Campus Appeal.

There were also Vice-Chancellors of sister Universities – Prof Otlogetswe Totolo of BIUST; Dr. Daniel Tau of the Botswana Open University; Dr. Theophilus Mooko, the Country Director, IDM; Dr. Raphel Dingalo of Limkokwing University; Dr. Ruramayi Tadu of Ba Isago; Mr. and Mrs. Nonofo Molefhi of the ABM University; UB Deputy Vice-Chancellors – Prof Richard Tabulawa; Mrs. Motsei Rapelana and Mr. Lopang Mosupi, Members of the Diplomatic Corps; Permanent Secretaries, Chief Executive Officers, and the Botswana Defence Force Deputy Commander Major General Mophuting.