UB introduces problem solving learning
The University of Botswana is currently immersed in a transformation and restructuring exercise that will transition it from a first generation to a third generation university.
First generation universities are those that just teach, while second generation universities do research that creates knowledge; at third generation, the knowledge is applied and translated into products and services that can help the country and can even be commercialised.
These days some universities are even transitioning to the fourth generation, which in addition to all the other three aspects, encompass the arena of policy formulation, whereby government decisions are based on research derived from universities. Speaking in an interview, UB Vice Chancellor Prof David Norris explains that the transformation and restructuring are necessitated by the pressing need to meet the aspirations of stakeholders – both internally and externally.
“The reality is that we are not meeting the expectations of the nation”, Prof Norris lamented, citing the example of the many graduates that are sitting idle at home, unemployed.
“Most of our students are idling it means there’s something wrong – we have not developed degree programmes that are globally competitive”.
To address this anomaly, UB will introduce ‘ problem- based learning’ so that it produces industry and market- ready graduates. Thankfully, to equip the lecturers, UB will look to its Centre for Academic Development to empower those who teach ways and means to share the knowledge such that students can apply it. “We must also look at how we teach, it has to be problem based learning, where a question would be structured in such a way that it invokes critical thinking, so that the question is such that you actually solve a challenge, not the teaching that we are still practising where you just regurgitate what you were taught in class – that is not helpful,” he says. Prof Norris insists that UB must become a high performance organisation hence it must adapt to changing trends. For example, UB has to find out how the higher education landscape is changing, and check if it is also adapting.
“You look at the employers – do they still want someone doing physical education? They want sports scientists and sport psychologists. Do they still want a student that is content with computer science degree? No, they want somebody with robotics, somebody with machine learning, they want artificial intelligence ( AI). “Therefore, you must also devise degree programmes according to what employers are looking for. Even in terms of your curriculum you must move faster and develop those degree programmes that will produce graduates that the market needs”, he says.
Prof Norris is confident they will attain the level of an HPO in which the University will facilitate the formation of a research and innovation system.
“We need to have, through a partnership model in which you have the University working with government at all levels; with industry at all levels, big industry, small scale, medium – and civil society! You need this partnership – you can never innovate without this partnership,” he says. Norris finds inspiration in the works of Australian university systems which pump $ 10 billion into the economy of Australia every year. In the last years at least 6000 innovations have come out of the Australian universities, and over one billion people globally use products and services produced from the Australian university system. Perhaps with the concerted efforts being deployed using the new strategy, ‘ Creating a Future for the knowledge Generation’, UB will eventually become an agile organisation that adapts to change, is resilient and serves fully the aspirations and expectations of stakeholders and lives the organisational values.
Since inception in 1982 to 2023, UB has produced 86284 graduates. It currently has a student population of 20077 and boasts quite a number of products and innovations some of which are candidates for patenting.
In the meantime, UB has been engaged by Okavango Diamond Company to produce a Diamond Sorting Machine and is also doing a consultancy for the Ministry of Transport to establish the cause of the collapse of the Boatle Bridge.