Limkokwing students win scholarships

Staff Writer | Tuesday March 30, 2010 00:00

Awarded by the institution's president Tan Sri Limkokwing, the scholarships were offered in recognition of these students' outstanding academic performance to a tune of P1 million. Set up in Botswana three years ago, Limkokwing has three campuses in the country and admits international students from Lesotho, Kenya, Swaziland and South Africa.

Founder and president of the university, which operates in three continents, Professor Limkokwing reminisced about March 2007 when the graduating class stood before him to embark on a long but worthwhile journey. Three years ago he said to the class: 'Today I speak for the very first time before you as you begin your journey with us. Three years from now, God willing, I shall be standing in front of you again to speak for the last time before you take leave of us on your graduation day.'

And indeed addressing them for the second and last time he said they should play a vital part in the human resources of the country, as there is no resource as important and potential of changing the economic landscape as the human capital.

'You will be the generation that will change the way people think, and bring about changes that will change things for the better in your country. You will become a driving force of change,' he said. 

Limkokwing University of Creative Technology opened its first campus in Botswana in May 2007 with an enrolment of about 1,500 students. Former president Festus Mogae is said to have played a pivotal role in inviting the Limkokwing University to set up in Botswana, in a bid to help the country's move towards industrialisation and modernisation. Admission for the graduating and pioneering class stirred controversy so far as private tertiary funding was concerned. The pace with the institution set up, and that the advent of the institution in Botswana saw the government sponsoring private tertiary education for the first time were amongst others in the public debate.

Today the institution employs 611, of which 505 are locals. Mogae encouraged the university to provide high quality education so their graduates could have a major impact on the country's economy. He said that the content of the curricula should not only be of good quality but that the quality should be delivered to the learners as well. He hailed the institution for its achievement in such a short period.