BIUST finally opens its doors

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Friday March 2, 2012 00:00

 

The director of student enrolment at the university, Moss Garde, told Mmegi yesterday that the response from the potential first crop of students has been 'unbelievable.''I just came from a career fair in Francistown. I was expecting about 200 people to turn up but more than 400 people came.  It shows that there is a huge demand for quality education in Botswana,' he said.

Garde said the school, whose first intake will be of about 250 students, will offer 10 junior degree programmes in Information Technology, Applied Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Geology, Applied Mathematics, Geological Engineering, Computer Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering and Mining Engineering.   He said they are expecting an average of 25 students in each programme but might accept more in popular programmes such as Mining, Energy Engineering and applied sciences. At the moment, the university has two faculties: College of Engineering and Technology and the College of Science.  Garde said it is envisioned that as the institution grows, it will add more academic programmes to meet national demand.

While he would not say that the programmes they will offer are different from what is offered at the University of Botswana Faculty of Sciences, he said the programmes from the two institutions will 'complement each other for the national needs and will meet Vision 2016 aspirations of an educated and informed nation.'In December, the vice-chancellor of the university Professor Steve Howell announced that the university would be temporarily housed at the Oodi College of Applied Arts and Technology (OCAAT) campus. Garde says the OCAAT facilities are adequate for the needs of the programmes the university will offer.

'In the first year of a science degree, one is mainly building up science skills and basic science skills are taught at this stage,' he said.  He said the high quality facilities that they will need for higher levels would be provided at their Palapye campus. BIUST was first launched in 2006, with the initial intake expected to be in 2009.