24 Sep 2018

President Mokgweetsi Masisi and First Lady, Neo Masisi, graced the National Collegiate Athletic Association football game between Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Buffalo Bulls at the Rutgers Stadium in New Jersey on September 22.

They attended the game at the invitation of Rutgers University president, Dr Robert Barchi and his wife, Dr Francis Barchi.

President Masisi said the visit was not just about the game, but to exchange views and even gravitate to areas in which Botswana and the university could partner.

“They have a reputable track record in the work they have done, where they have successfully moved ideas from ideas to services and products that are sellable, and that is exactly what Botswana needs at this point in time,” he said.

He said in two weeks’ time, Dr Barchi, his wife Francis and a delegation from the university would be travelling to Botswana to meet with the leadership of various ministries. The visit would be coordinated by deputy permanent secretary to the President, Mr Elias Magosi to solidify the potential areas of engagement.
 

Meanwhile, University President Dr Barchi said they were looking for opportunities to provide expertise that might help Botswana develop in various areas.

“We are in an exploring phase to find out how we can help, whether in engineering and technology development, technology transfer, health care, the development of health system, the relationship between health education, academic health and delivery of health care,” he said.

Dr Barchi said they were a large state university with 70 000 students and unique among the partners that Botswana had, as one of their primary missions was the development of citizens of a civil democracy and leaders of the economy of the state.

“We are looking to see how we can partner with Botswana, where it has the same goal of developing its citizens and technology of tomorrow,” he added.

For her part, assistant professor Francis Barchi, who is familiar with Botswana and has been engaged in education partnership in Botswana, said they were in the early stages of collaborating with the department of engineering at the University of Botswana to share with them lessons they had learnt in the development of the programme in bio-engineering.

She emphasised the fact that the two institutions were forming a friendship and deciding where they could be most helpful to each other.

Rutgers has had a long-term relationship with Botswana through the University of Botswana School of Medicine and the Ministry of Health and Wellness in various capacities, such as Masa HIV/AIDS treatment program, which began around 2002.

In August, UB Vice Chancellor Prof David Norris, the dean of the Faculty of Engineering Mr Ben Bolaane and associated dean at the medical school, Doreen Ramogola-Masire visited Rutgers and had meetings with Prof Richard Marlink and his colleagues.

Following the meeting, Rutgers will be sending two senior physicians to the UB School of Medicine this fall. Ends