21 Apr 2013

The visit to Botswana, by United States of America universities, has been described as beneficial since it offered local institutions an opportunity to discuss and negotiate collaborations and partnerships.

The coordinator of the Education Hub, Mr Lucky Moahi said this during a press conference held on April 19 in Gaborone.

He noted that from meetings conducted throughout the week, partnerships were established between the institutions, with some coming up with offers in scholarships and exchange programmes.

Mr Moahi stated that Wilberforce University demonstrated a particular interest in Thapong Visual Arts Centre, and offered to assist with facilities refurbishment as well as artists' training.

The University of West Indies (UWI) and University of Botswana (UB) discussed possibilities of post graduate programmes in the area of medical specialisations.

The University of Western Illinois and Botswana Police College also looked into the area of curriculum and indicated possibilities of offering scholarships to UB.

Phoenix School of Law had discussions with the Industrial Court on training of judges of the labour court as well as offering internships for students.

Giving a feedback and experience of their visit, Ms Shirley Mays, Dean at Phoenix School of Law, expressed their interest in assisting students and lawyers as professionals and further enable them to learn theory in class and apply it in practice.

She said they want to form partnerships with the Attorney General’s office, UB Law department, Industrial Court, High Court and Botswana Law Society.

"We also want to move forward with staff and student exchanges and offer training opportunities with internships and curricular development."

UWI, represented by Dr Monica Davis, has plans to introduce post graduate programmes in telemedicine with UB. 

She said they are also hoping to re-introduce a programme in Ana-physiology which will benefit both UB and UWI.

Dr Davis said their hope was to augment the medicine programme at UB to train doctors in Ana-Physiology, where doctors from UWI will work and conduct training in Botswana. He noted that capacity will not be reduced as local doctors will go to UWI for training.

She further said they are proposing external examination of both undergraduate and post graduates candidates in the medical school through reading of doctoral thesis and examination of undergraduates.

In addition, she said they have a very strong HIV/AIDS programme, stating that statistics have fallen from 27 per cent to two per cent. He said they aimed at establishing a similar centre in Botswana and have a collaborative research in an effort to reduce the scourge both locally and in the West Indies.

The executive director of Western Illinois University, Dr Richard Carter stated that they have proposed an agreement with UB to offer full scholarships in the area of business and they also intend to formalise the long standing relationship with Botswana College of Agriculture with a Memorandum of Understanding.

Western Illinois University, he said, has adopted St Joseph’s College, where they will identify a high school in the US State of Illinois which will be a sister school to St Joseph’s College.

A representative from St Joseph’s College, Mr Michael Tabona, stated that they have entered into a partnership with Western Illinois University to give their students exposure and share culture. ENDS