05 Mar 2018

Following concerns of skills mismatch and low research output in institutions of higher learning, University of Botswana (UB) vice chancellor Professor David Norris says he wants to reinvent higher education through practical collaborations of industries and the university.

Addressing captains of the industry who had gathered at UB on March 2, Prof Norris said the skills mismatch situation on the ground necessitated the need for them to meet leaders in industries to map a way forward to enable them to produce market ready graduates.

“We want to put our heads together with you. We want to change the way we have been doing business as a university. We want to produce graduates that you want,” he said.

On research output, Prof Norris said there was need to do research that solved problems in communities.

“We find ourselves doing research that has no developmental impact. We cannot seat in our offices and come up with research proposals that do not solve your challenges. We just accumulate research and then ask for promotions,” he said adding that there was need to transform the university and assert its relevance.

He said a university existed on three fundamental grounds of; teaching and learning, research and community engagement.

“Probably these three things we have not been doing them well. Whatever we teach should be informed by what those who will be hiring our graduates want from the graduates. If what we teach is not what you want. Then we cannot continue teaching without involving you,” he said.

“We are a very comprehensive university,” he said adding that the university had all the necessary learning facilities and human resource capital to respond to the needs of the industry.

He said there was need for the university to play its role which should be felt by the community.

“As a university our presence is not being felt out there because we are not engaging,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said, the university has had some achievements though in 2017, which included research in natural products.

 “Our scientists are very active in researching medicinal plants looking at those plants that can provide anti-fungus, bacteria, or anti-inflammatory properties. We are also looking at producing a vaccine for lumpy skin disease in collaboration with Botswana Vaccine Institute which is in the process of being patented,” he said.

He encouraged captains of industry to collaborate with the university in various areas, adding that the university needed practitioners to come as guest lectures or guest professors to impart relevant knowledge to the students.

“We want professionals in our classrooms, to serve in our departmental advisory boards,” he said.

Responding to the vice chancellor’s call the industry leaders said the university was not doing poorly in terms of producing human resource capital as some students had exhibited excellent attributes and were hired based on their competency.

Botswana Oil Limited representative, Mr Willie Mokgatle appreciated the development as it enabled them as an industry to be able to bring to attention some of the challenges and critical areas that needed to be addressed.

In the petroleum space, he said, they were currently looking at extracting liquids from the coal mineral.

“These are projects that can bring a lot of benefits for the country. Institutions have a lot of role to play as they have core subjects to offer such as Chemistry,” he said.

Also responding to the vice chancellors request, Water Utilities Corporation chief executive officer, Mr Mmetla Masire said the move came at an opportune time given the fact that their efforts in the past to reach out to  the university were not successful.

“When I was working for the mine industry, we had technically advanced diamond sorting processes which needed us to collaborate but we could not,” he explained.

He said Botswana companies tended to overlook graduates that came from ‘our own universities.’

"The move by the vice chancellor to involve industries would address the problem," he said.

Another leader in the diamond industry, Ms Rutang Moses thanked the university for taking the initiative to involve stakeholders.

“This is a good start. A lot of people still do not know what really happens in the mining of diamonds. There is still a big opportunity in the cutting and polishing of diamonds,” she noted.

For his part, general manager for Botswana Vaccine Institute buttressed the need to draw collaboration plans between industry and the university.

“I have noticed that people come here, do research, get our knowledge and go away with it. We have been robbed. That is why we must patent our research work,” he said. ENDS