The decline and fall of higher education in Botswana: The curse of commercialisation (Part I)
Friday, January 13, 2017
Students at a local tertiary institution
The year 2016 ended on a high note with respect to the overdue debate regarding higher education in Botswana. University of Botswana’s Professor Thabo Fako’s presentation before the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies and Public Enterprises in November provided much needed impetus to the debate.
It is not so much the fact that the University of Botswana (UB) is cash-strapped that is critical to the debate, but the relevance of the institution in the modern economy as well as the implications of the fierce competition it is receiving from private tertiary institutions. The debate was useful to the extent that it brought into sharp relief the vacuousness and bankruptcy of our higher education system.
For too long, the state of many public schools has been a source of shame. We have all seen the pictures and heard the stories of broken windows, unreliable water and electricity, topped by classrooms that are not fit for proper learning. The establishment of the Education Infrastructure and Management Company Ltd (EIMC) signals that authorities are finally ready to take this problem seriously. We must commend the government for this initiative....