12 Jun 2022

 The University of Botswana (UB) has kicked off its 40th anniversary celebrations with the launch and unveiling of a mascot.

Unveiled and launched in Gaborone recently by former president Dr Festus Mogae, also a UB ex-chancellor, the mascot will be the major attraction as the university traverses the country in a show of appreciation for Batswana’s contribution towards its establishment. The country-wide tour and other activities, including a music festival, will culminate in the main celebration planned for October.

Speaking at the mascot unveiling event, Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe, called on the university’s different disciplines to collaborate on addressing social ills through research. 

 He said researchers should have a strong focus on creating new knowledge together and ensuring its application in society. 

“When we pull our expertise together, we will be able to address societal problems from a centralised focused approach,” he said. 

The minister also urged researchers to work at generating more income for the university. 

UB,  he said,  should transform into a high performing institution, adding that transformative tertiary education transformed economies, societies and communities whilst building a more competitive, knowledge-driven society. 

He applauded UB’s academic staff for producing research beneficial to the country’s development. 

“Policy has been influenced by research such as The Plight of the Elderly in Botswana, which led to the introduction of social security nets in our country,” he said. 

The minister also commended researchers for collaborating on immune system deregulation in COVID-19 research.

Dr Letsholathebe said the research, which ‘investigates changes that occur in the immune system by looking at all cellular subsets involved in the immune response, cytokine production and immunoglobulin production in response to infection with SARS-COV-2’, would not only be helpful to Botswana but to the world as a whole.  

Yet another  research the nation took pride in, he said, was on Steroid Production by Fungi Isolated from Hyper Saline Environments in Botswana which sought to increase access to drugs in developing countries by exploiting fungi with the potential for steroid production. 

In his remarks, UB vice chancellor, Prof David Norris said the institution had entered a stage of development where it needed to reflect on its past. 

“It is time to introspect and ask  ourselves as to whether we still play a truly meaningful role in the society,” Prof Norris said. 

The UB had undoubtedly produced the human capital that had and continued to play a prominent role in Botswana’s development.   

The vice chancellor said as  it celebrated its 40^th anniversary,  UB was embarking on a transformation journey towards becoming an increasingly forward-looking university; a key state-owned enterprise working in contexts such as economic hubs, clusters, accelerators, centres of excellence and forming strategic partnerships directly aligned to the national growth plan. 

“We are on a trajectory to become the leading net exporter of education, knowledge-content, expertise and advanced services and skills to the SADC market and beyond,” said Prof Norris. 

He said UB should aspire to become an engaged university that transformed lives. 

Founded in 1982 by the will of people who backed up their demand with the ‘motho le motho kgomo’ initiative, UB was established after 16 years of Botswana’s reliance on neighbouring countries for higher education. BOPA