Botho University fully registered
MANZINI - Botho University Eswatini has achieved full registration in the country since its establishment in 2019.
This was revealed during a press conference hosted by the university on Wednesday.
Botho University is housed at the Riverstone Mall in Manzini.
Eswatini Higher Education Council ( ESHEC) Quality Assurances Manager Dr Monica Nkonyane said: “We are here to share this celebration because they ( Botho University) are joining the few institutions that have attained full registration in the country. They are the fifth as we have four.”
Nkonyane mentioned that there were institutions in the country which were still on provisional registration. She said reaching the full registration stage was encouraging because other institutions would be inspired and follow suit.
She said many institutions of higher learning were still in the process of being fully registered and were working on assessments. She highlighted that reaching this stage was critical.
According to the quality assurances manager, what qualified t he university t o achieve t his status was that it offered unique courses.
“That’s what we are encouraging because there are sectors and programmes that are saturated. We want programmes that will meet the needs of the country, are marketable and those that employers are looking for. So we want graduates who are easily absorbed by the labour market,” Nkonyane said.
She added t hat t he university offered programmes such as Bachelor of Science in Secondary Network and others that would enable graduates t o come up with i nnovative skills that could be exported. She congratulated the university for its achievement.
“Botho has attained this status because it has reached ESHEC standards. This means they have really worked hard because during assessments, we leave no stone unturned,” said Nkonyane.
She disclosed that among their requirements were infrastructure, qualified staff as well as ensuring that students were supported in their s t udies. Nkonyane added t hat t he f i nancial stability of the institution was also monitored, because they had dealt with many fly- by- night institutions, which they were working tirelessly to eliminate. “The future is very bright and we are happy. The university is indeed closing the gap in the country; we are proud,” she said.
Historic
Meanwhile, Botho University Eswatini Campus Assistant Dean Viswanathan Sankaranarayanan said it was indeed a historic event for the Eswatini campus and they were proud of the university for the achievement. He said the success was made possible by adhering to the ESHEC standards. The assistant dean shared that in 2019, 42 students were enrolled.
He said they were able to achieve full registration within a short space of time because they were an institution that had many campuses in the region. He mentioned that they had their campuses in Lesotho and Botswana, where they had their first institution. He said they were now established in Namibia and were expanding their footprint in Western Africa. The assistant dean mentioned that they were currently establishing a campus in Ghana.
He also shared t hat t heir secret t o success was that they chose to be unique. Meanwhile, he said the Eswatini students had participated in competitions and managed to secure third place position. He stated that the first batch of students would be graduating next year and among them, six had already been placed in the working sector. The assistant dean said this was due to their exceptional performance, as well as the university’s status.
On another note, he said there was a digital library which students used for research in their studies. He said students were also given tablets to use in their learning process.