15 Jun 2021

Botho University graduates have been urged to take their imaginations beyond the horizons as the era of COVID-19 also offers an opportunity to embark on unchartered terrains for innovation and development.

Speaking at the second virtual Botho University graduation ceremony in Gaborone on Friday, Health and Wellness minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti said those opportunities included more time in the advent of cancellations of major events and gatherings.

He said those challenges could be used to reflect on the habits and routines to adopt new modes of adaptability, innovation and creativity to address bureaucratic procedures and processes and enhance employee productivity, among others.

Dr Dikoloti told the 800 graduates that it should be motivating and inspiring to be graduating at times like these, where the world was yearning for more innovative solutions to mitigate against challenges brought about by COVID-19.

“Ba ga etsho, I am confident that Botho University has adequately prepared you for the challenges ahead. I am reliably informed that BU has a firm focus on student employability; by producing a globally employable, entrepreneurial graduate with the knowledge, skills, competencies and attitude to drive productivity, growth and value creation in our economy,” he said.

Minister Dikoloti said Botho Graduate Profile aims to produce a Botho graduate that has absorbed critical 21^st century skills, in addition to their core disciplinary knowledge.

All the programmes are practical, industry focused and have built- in semester long internships and compulsory entrepreneurship and computing training, and I believe that the years they have spent there had helped them to be an industry ready graduates, he added.

Dr Dikoloti said it was gratifying to note that Botho University had developed partnerships with both regional and international institutions of repute; aimed at collaborating on various aspects such as curriculum design and development, research as well as  staff and student exchanges on a wider variety of academic areas.

These partnerships include the University of Venda in South Africa, Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and DHBW-Lorrach University of Germany, to name but a few.

Dr Dikoloti said, “It is encouraging to note that in the past Botho University partnered with my ministries to assist in the rollout of the Integrated Patient Management System (PIMS) across all health facilities in the country. 

The project was over a period of two years and graduates from Botho University assisted with installations, training and support of users at all health facilities.”

Furthermore, he explained that his ministry had partnered with the institution in providing some internship places for students currently studying BSc - Hons in Health Information Management. 

In this regard, 130 students were placed in 2020 and another sizable number will be placed this year.

The minister said the partnership would go a long way in helping the ministry to realise its digitalisation programme, and further help in the development of knowledge economy.

Furthermore, the minister noted that those partnerships must be promoted as they helped bridge the gap between education providers and the industry and gave graduates a competitive edge.

He commended Botho University for helping government in its effort to fight the scourge of COVID-19 by contributing over P1.7 million towards the COVID-19 fund in 2020.

He said P150 000 was in cash while the rest of the contributions were in  kind and were devoted to the provision of free online training for teachers and trainers across various education levels.

Dr Dikoloti said it was also heart-warming to learn that the university, through its corporate social responsibility, had taken up a primary school at Kubung and also assisted pupils with their academic work.

In addition, the university has adopted Gakgatla village and works closely with the village leadership in providing support to the community. ENDS