Botswana should overhaul its curriculum � American professor
Chakalisa Dube | Friday November 7, 2014 16:17
Professor Beverly Davenport, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Cincinnati, suggested that a curriculum used by American universities could be implemented by local tertiary schools to address problems of poor quality graduates.
“The country’s tertiary education institutions should also collaborate with other international universities in order to learn how the country can produce graduates commensurate with the needs of the industry,” she said. Davenport noted that local employers had complained about poor quality graduates and hence institutions had to play their role in improving the educational process. She added that courses provided also had to be commensurate with industry needs.
“Our curriculum dictates that students spend two years doing general education, which have modules that allows them to learn various life skills. In addition, students also go through a one year uninterrupted attachment with very close supervisions from industry players and the university as part of their five year degree.”
“When weaknesses are noticed from any student during attachment, measures are put in place to deal with any weakness identified. This is to ensure that graduates are prepared for the job market. This model would be successful in Botswana. It has proven effective,” she explained.
Davenport further said Cincinnati University was willing to offer assistance to Botswana universities to help them improve their existing curriculum and introduce new courses, which could address skill mismatch in the country.
The professor added that the US based university was willing to assist Botswana tertiary schools with academics educators.
“We can send our students who are pursuing their PHDs here. They never get any opportunity to teach and this would be an opportune time for them to gain experience. It’s an idea we intend to further engage Botswana on,” Davenport added.
The delegation from Cincinnati University was in Botswana to assess ways they could collaborate with Botswana tertiary institutions. They were here at the invitation of the Ministry of Education and Skills Development.