Acceptance speech by Dingake as Chancellor of ABM University College
Key Dingake | Friday November 27, 2020 14:39
This momentous and historic virtual graduation would not be as great and glamorous as it is, had it not been for the hard work of the Chairperson of the University Council, the Vice Chancellor, management, staff and students. I know the huge logistical challenges of organising a virtual graduation. The fact that they managed to pull it off deserves our sincere thanks.
Programme director, I consider this day to be an opportunity to share with you some aspects of my life and to pay tribute to all those people who have helped me to become who I am and to give you a broad-brush of the University we want to become.
So, I start from the beginning by acknowledging the contribution of my parents that made it possible for me to stand before you today. I am a product of peasant parents who understood the value of education and toiled against all odds to provide me with one. They devoted almost every thebe from the sale of their peasantry produce to give me the education I needed. I recall that on a good year, whilst at the university, when they got a good harvest from ground nuts, I would receive a twenty pula note sent by post, which I invariably used to spoil myself with assorted biscuits and “magwinya” from Pop-In. I am in all respects a product of their toil, sweat and brow. I am certain that from whence they may be today the look with pride at the product of their toil and sweat. To my parents and the entire Sejie clan, I say today, publicly, thank you.
I also wish to thank my wife and children for their unconditional love and support in everything I do. I am only sorry that no matter how hard I try; I have not been able to sufficiently reciprocate their love and support. This cohort of intimates I call my people remain the idol of my reverence.
I am very proud to be associated with ABMUC for three primary reasons: (1) being a pioneer of private tertiary education in Botswana, (2) to my knowledge the University was founded by a Motswana woman, Daisy Molefhi, who worked hard to establish ABMUC as an excellent centre of learning, teaching and research. In a patriarchal society, we normally associate such success with men, (3) over the 30 years of its existence the University has contributed immensely to higher education and meeting the skills gap in our labour market.
It is primarily for the above reasons that I could not refuse to answer positively to the call to lend my name to the noble cause of assisting ABMUM to continue in the realisation of its key mandate. ABMUC is a story of a University that started as a family initiative that now has the potential to answer the call of history and transform from family business into a giant tertiary education player nationally and globally. As its titular head, and within limits of my authority, I am committed, as part of the collective that is the leadership of the University to establish ABMUC as a locally rooted and distinguished global University.
I would like to salute my immediate predecessor and my esteemed friend, Professor Torto for being the first Chancellor and for his contribution to the efforts of ABMUC to be a premier centre of excellence in teaching, learning and research.
I congratulate him for his new role in government as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology. I have known Professor Torto for over 30 years. He is a perfect gentleman and a solid intellectual. I will rely on his wise counsel, as a patriot, going forward.
Compatriots and distinguished guests, we meet under extraordinary circumstances when the COVID-19 pandemic grips our country and entire world. I congratulate the government for responding timeously in taking tough measures that were needed to enable us as a nation to deal with the pandemic.
I salute the frontline workers, health, medical professionals and ancillary staff who have sacrificed a lot to keep us healthy and safe. I also express my sincere gratitude to all our people for heeding the call for observing all the COVID-19 protocols. It is our patriotic duty to do so. We must continue to wear masks. To do so is to show love to everyone. It is also our patriotic duty.
We are also living under the Gender Based Violence (GBV) scourge that continues to take lives of mainly women and girls. The root cause of GBV is gender inequality, or unequal power between women and men. As a nation we need to work hard to end GBV by establishing equality between men and women because equality between the sexes is the basis of ending GBV.
Women’s vulnerability to GBV, in particular Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is exacerbated by their relative lack of resources, which creates dependency on male partners, as well as community norms of male dominance, cultural ideologies that place women in subordinate positions. It is those structures of domination and exploitation of women, which highlight their vulnerability to violence- all of which obtain legitimacy from the patriarchy
For those of you who have lost their loved ones on account of the twin pandemics my heart goes out to you and I offer my sincere condolences.Still on COVID-19, I wish to congratulate the Vice Chancellor and the management of the University for adapting very well to the new normal as evidenced by this virtual graduation.
The tertiary education landscape.
The tertiary education landscape in Botswana needs to be transformed if the country is to achieve its dream of being a knowledge-based economy. In order to develop into a knowledge-based economy, Botswana needs a highly skilled human resource. We therefore need to urgently align our educational curriculum to the much-needed skills in the market.
The private sector has a big role to play, in partnership with the government, to promote access to education and produce globally competitive human capital. To this extent, government should continue to assist the private tertiary education sector to realise its dream of a knowledge-based economy.
The role of the University.
Universities across the world, including of course this university, have a special responsibility to strive to produce knowledge that can sustain the nation and the world generally. It is exactly in this context that ABMUC, the pioneer of private territory education in Botswana’s vision is to be a locally rooted, premier university that is globally distinguished.
I am particularly grateful to note that ABMUC has for over 30 years of its existence, committed itself to the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, research and scholarship, public service and the provision of solutions to the developmental challenges facing our country.
Provision of higher education is the major driver of information and knowledge systems that contribute to economic development.
Universities have a duty of equipping people with high skills for the employment needs of the public and private sector as producers of new knowledge. To date, ABMUC has contributed immensely to the development of human resource in Botswana and the region. Going forward, ABMUC intends to develop new programs in line with both the national human resource skills development and international skills requirements. Also, in the cards, is a major curriculum review that will focus on the emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies so as to ensure that the university produces graduates that are globally competitive.
The review of our curriculum to embrace the 4IR does not mean that ABMUC will pursue curriculum development that is not relevant to our context. We are committed to developing a curriculum that is relevant to the context within which the university exists and in which it provides education. What this means is that we will remain committed to a diversity of knowledge systems deriving from the global context but apply our learning within the context of our concrete existence and circumstances.
We aim to produce, through our teaching, men and women who are both critical and creative. We encourage our students not just to be philosopher kings, but to be doers rather than accumulators of theories and facts. This must be so if our graduates are to be instruments of change, working towards achieving prosperity for all, through the realisation of all the four Vision 2016 pillars being sustainable economic development, human social development, sustainable environment, governance, peace and security- all of which would catapult us into our dream of transforming from a upper middle income country to a high income country in 2036.
We need to produce students who are instruments of change. Being instruments of change also means that our graduates must be able to think the unthinkable and occasionally engage in beneficially disruptive reasoning that yield better national dividends.
Class of 2020
I wish to congratulate the class of 2020 for working extremely hard to earn themselves a place in today’s graduation ceremony. I wish them all success in their future endeavours.
I wish to encourage them to apply the education and skills they learnt to solve many of our myriad problems as a nation.
I remind them of the words of two prominent thinkers on education and thought: Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr:
Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing...”
He also said “… education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he has learnt in school.”
Bohr on the other hand advised that: “The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. but the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.”
I conclude, Director of proceedings, by suggesting that maintaining and advancing quality education must remain our primary focus.
For none of what we accomplish together, in the course of time, matter if we don’t endeavour to deliver the highest quality education to our students; supporting the University in its pursuit of academic excellence and providing the infrastructure to advance research at the highest level.
I am of the firm view that if we are to be a centre of excellence as we aim to do, then we need to join hands as government, the private sector and the University in all its various layers, and work together to transform the tertiary education landscape for the benefit of all.
Lastly, I pledge to do my best as Chancellor of the University and to honour its founding values, its vision and its past in celebration of the present, and especially in anticipation of its bright future.
I thank you for your attention.
*Professor Key Dingake is Justice of the Supreme and National Courts of Papua New Guinea and Court of appeal of Seychelles. This is his recent acceptance speech as Chancellor of ABM University College