25 Apr 2022

Botho University is awaiting approval by Botswana Qualifications Authority has plans to offer a doctoral programme.

The Vice Chancellor of Botho University (BU) Dr Sheela Raj Ram said the institution had always complied with all regulatory requirements in all the four countries they were operating from.

Botho University is found in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini.

Speaking at the media reception to launch the 25^th anniversary celebration on Friday, Dr Raj Ram said what started as a single discipline focusing on information technology had grown over the years to become a strong multi-disciplinary provider.

Dr Raj Ram said Botho University had become a full-fledged university offering diploma, degree and masters programmes across various industry-relevant disciplines.

She said as such celebrating 25 years was a sign of maturity and institutional growth.

“Over these 25 years our focus on quality and producing employable graduates has led to Botho gaining a solid reputation as a growing education brand in Africa.

Our reputation is proven by the fact that our international partners both at home in Africa, Europe and the United States of America have preferred us for collaboration,” she said.

Dr Raj Ram said the university had subjected itself to the African Union quality rating mechanism and the ISO certification, as an added level of scrutiny and quality assurance.

The quality of curriculum relates to the active involvement of industry partners from the design stage to the end, with student internships and aspects of work integrated learning, she said.

Dr Raj Ram said those partnerships were leading the university to deliver more student centric pedagogies, stating that the partnership with KTH the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden had led the institution  to adopting the challenge-driven education as a pedagogy for sustainable development through which students got to work within communities finding solutions to the challenges they faced.

 In his welcoming remarks, the director and Pro vice chancellor, Mr Ravi Srinivasan described Botho University as a young university with more than a glint of idealism and hunger to become one of the region’s top young universities.

The name Botho symbolises a philosophy that is as old as humanity itself and it is based on cultural belief that called on individuals to come together and be more communal in their outlook and thus, to look out for one another.

“It was a fitting name for a university that was not seeking to emulate institutions of long-standing tradition, but that sought to curve out its own path of excellence grounded in academic rigour and unafraid to challenge the status quo and contribute to the community,” he said.

The 25^th anniversary celebration events and activities included a Golf Day, whose proceeds will go to charity.

There was also a cultural day, 25^th anniversary exhibits and open day as well as a fitness day.ENDS