16 Oct 2016

The Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) will continue to build relations with key stakeholders and to strengthen collaboration for the successful implementation of its strategic plan.
Speaking at the university’s strategic plan 2016-2022 launch, BIUST council chairperson, Mr Bernard Bolele said it was one of their top priorities and were determined to play a proactive role in engaging with government, parliament, business, the education and science community and international partners.
He said as BIUST, they were committed to ensuring true engagement, the commencement of long lasting and sustainable conversations and the crafting of partnerships to establish a common agenda that is ambitious and of mutual benefit.
Mr Bolele said, in particular, they perceive the private and business sector not just as a funding source but more as the welcome destination for the graduates and the beneficiary of research and innovation.
“We are committed to producing exceptional graduates and to growing BIUST’s research strength into a major national asset that can enable our economy to diversify and our business sector to become more competitive,” he said.
Meanwhile, presenting the strategy, BIUST vice chancellor, Prof. Otlogetswe Totolo said as a university, they need to have more private public partnerships to sustain themselves other than depending on government for funding.
On another issue, Prof Totolo said research and innovation are at the centre of what BUIST is doing; hence as part of strategy they want to demystify the idea that science and engineering are difficult subjects to pursue.
He also noted that at the university, they intended to have graduates with world class knowledge and entrepreneurial skills among others.
Furthermore, the vice chancellor said graduates must have supportive skills such as forecasting and innovation, while they should also be adaptable to different work environment.
Therefore, Prof. Totolo said at BIUST they are socialising the engineers and that they would be different from other students as they are trained in a way that they are going to create jobs for themselves.
Meanwhile, BIUST aims to be a premier research based university in science engineering and technology, internationally recognised for the quality and excellence of its teaching and learning, research, innovation and engagement. ENDS