D. Molefe, O. Pansiri and S. Weeks
21 April 2008
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Of all the challenges ahead for the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) perhaps the hardest will be not to be known as the "Palapye University".
Certain interests in Palapye, with good intentions, have already shortened the name of the new university to Palapye University or PU. This could be unfortunate, if not counterproductive because this might overshadow both the national and international standing of Botswana's second university. University in Palapye would be better, but is still not inclusive enough. It should remain "BIUST".
Despite this local naming, steps are being taken to ensure that project implementation moves on schedule and that the first phase is ready to open in March 2010 with 500 students and 50 staff. BIUST would then move in a phased manner towards the enrollment of 10,000 students by 2019. As everyone should know, planning and executing a project as extensive as BIUST may be subject to further delays. Currently there is a shortage of materials perhaps due to intensified activity on a variety of fronts to prepare for the World Cup in 2010.
BIUST plans to begin groundbreaking in July 2008. Several teams are already at work on the site including an exhumation team, a geo-technical survey team and those responsible for building services infrastructure (roads, water, sewage, electricity and telephone networks within the campus). A cut line around the boundary is being established. The compensation due for landowners is nearing conclusion. Howard University has done a preliminary master plan and an indicative master plan has been prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that has been advising on the development of BIUST.
The strategy adopted to develop BIUST, relying on public-private partnership (PPP), may also not be something that is rapidly achievable. The development of PPP to support BIUST is the mandate of the IFC, but what happens if this goal is not achieved? Will people begin to pull behind BIUST in Botswana, as they did when Seretse Khama called for one man, one beast, to build the University of Botswana? It is possible the government will have to be prepared to step into the breach and increase the resources available to develop BIUST beyond those originally anticipated?
One avenue that could be followed is to begin with a number of professorships in each faculty that are endowed by the private sector in Botswana. Ideally each endowed professorship should begin with a donation of at least one-million pula to BIUST. This would demonstrate the commitment of the private sector to the development of a national and international university of the highest standard. Another initiative that would go a long way to make the BIUST dream a reality would be for some dominant companies in Botswana not only to endow a number of professorships, but also to show their commitment and vision by establishing 100 fellowships in perpetuity for graduate students at BIUST. Another pipe dream? No, this is what Cecil Rhodes did for Oxford University in 1902 when he set up the Rhodes Scholarships.
Ironically it is Oxford that has benefited from Rhodes's vision over the last 106 years, as proportionally little has gone to Southern Africa, because very few Southern Africans have been awarded Rhodes Scholarships compared to graduate students from other parts of the world. For example, Debswana Fellowships, at 100 a year, could support a proportion of the 2,000 graduate students who will be enrolled at BIUST by 2019. Such fellowships would demonstrate that BIUST is recognised within Southern Africa. The development of Palapye must go hand-in-hand with the development of BIUST. This will require a variety of approaches that do not exist now. This could take the form of tax incentives and concessions for business that are established in greater Palapye including private schools at all levels, a variety of industries and commercial firms, and so on. To make the area a magnet for development may require the establishment of a free-trade zone, or other such innovations.
Another challenge is to ensure autonomy of the BIUST Council and that of its new staff. Last week a number of people were interviewed for the position of Vice-Chancellor of BIUST. When the senior staff are in place an operation that has been lodged for a number of years in the Ministry of Education will have to shift its foci.
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