21 Nov 2018

University of Botswana (UB) deputy Vice Chancellor, Finance and Administration, Mr Mendel Nlanda says the university will encourage researchers and students to participate in the collaborative research with Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MFED) planning officers with a view to building capacity in areas of economic analysis and forecasting in the country.   

Mr Nlanda said this at the signing of an MoU between the university and the finance ministry in Gaborone on November 19.

He said the university shall ensure that the commitments and obligations of the MoU such as recommending the work programme for research activities and supervising the economic and environmental science research in various areas are met.

He also said some of the commitments and obligations are availing university students attachment at the ministry to do short to medium-term research and identifying staff to supervise the research, facilitating participation by university researchers in sharing the perspective that contribute to enhancing economic management in the country and contributing to economic research through provision and sharing expertise, data and information on the economy that is useful in enhancing economic management.

He was of the view that the MOU came at the perfect time when the university has initiated a process to establish a consultancy bureau, which he considered a fundamental aspect of university’s enterprise strategy that has been designed to guide the institution to generate the much needed third stream income.  

On behalf of the finance ministry, permanent secretary Mr Solomon Sekwakwa said the MoU acknowledges that while UB has a well-established and fully functional training and research capacity, the ministry has limited capacity to do fully-fledged research, but prides itself in having a pool of economists, the majority of whom possess Master’s Degree, a few at PhD level and have potential to supervise research.

He said MoU therefore signifies formal collaborative working relationships between MFED and UB in areas of economic research, macroeconomic forecasting, policy analysis and capacity building in wealth accounting and natural capital accounting.

He also emphasised  the importance of cooperation in areas of information sharing and exchange of staff for purposes of building capacity in economic management.

He added that over the years, MFED and UB had had informal arrangements, especially in areas of internship, modelling and forecasting through UB’s Department of Economics. ENDS