Introduction
In 2001, Botswana had an estimated population of 1.7 million and a per capita income of about $2,000. An expanding economy and a stable government facilitated a steady growth in the country’s educational system.

History of Higher Education
We can identify 7 stages in the development of the University of Botswana (UB). The first stage was the establishment of the University of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland (UBBS). With the assistance of the Ford Foundation and the British government, the facilities were purchased and the university opened in 1964 with 188 students. The University of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland (UBLS) was funded equally by the 3 governments. In 1975 Lesotho nationalized the campus at Roma and created the National University of Lesotho. Students from Botswana and Lesotho were sent home. This step was the outcome of political interference and resulted in an exodus of students from Botswana and Swaziland, the establishment of a law program in Swaziland, a program in social sciences in Botswana, and soon after the creation of the University of Botswana and Swaziland (UBS). This arrangement continued until separate universities were agreed to in Botswana and Swaziland in 1992.
Botswana has only one national university. In 1990, a major review of the organization, management, structure, and statutes of the UB was initiated. Since 1995, 3 new faculties of engineering and technology, business, and the school of graduate studies, have been created to supplement the existing faculties of education, science, and humanities and social sciences. In addition, the Botswana College of Agriculture, which awards degrees through UB, functions as an 8th autonomous faculty. A special pre-medical program was launched in 2000-01.

Student Enrollment

Faculty
Overall, Botswanese citizens occupy 85% of positions at the university, but occupy only 53% of the lecturer and senior lecturer positions and only 16% of professorships. This is a source of frustration to those Botswanese staff who feel foreigners are keeping them in the lower ranks. UB has a strong staff development program, which in 2000 supported more than 130 fellows in their studies for higher degrees around the world.

Research and Publication
The National Institute for Development Research and Documentation (NIR) was established in 1975 and during its first decade earned an international reputation with more than 80 publications. It had a focus on land and environment; education and society; health and nutrition; issues of migration and settlement; and rural development. It was changed in the late 1990s to the Directorate of Research and Development and then in 2001 to the Department of Research and Development, with only a few staff members.

The demise of the NIR has been accompanied by the rapid growth of a major research center in northern Botswana. At the end of February 2000, the UB officially launched the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Center (HOORC). The Okavango Research Center has been operating since late 1994, In 2000, the Center had 8 academic staff and 10 support staff and planned to build up to 24 academic staff and 30 support staff over the next 5 years. In addition, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from UB and universities around the world are attached to the HOORC and participate in its research programs.

Financing and Resources
UB obtains both its capital and recurrent budgets through the rolling national development plans and the annual budget cycle. In the last decade, the university has constructed facilities for 4 major faculties (science, humanities, social sciences, and education) and is currently planning a major complex for its faculty of engineering. The 240-student graduate student village is probably the best such facility south of the Sahara.

Until 1999-2000, the university under-spent its budget by more than $4 million dollars a year (or nearly 10% of the budget). This was due to salary savings caused by unfilled vacancies. In 1999-2000, significant salary increases eroded this surplus. The “government subvention” to the university has increased significantly each year. In 1998-99, it was approximately $40 million, which was increased to $50 million in the following year. Approximately 20% of the university’s annual budget has been raised from tuition fees and other revenue (mainly from the refectory, residences, and bookstore). The average cost per student per year of $6,000 is highly subsidized. In 2000, UB’s assets were valued at approximately $150 million. A new UB Foundation has been established to seek funds from the private sector to support new initiatives at the university.

Private Institutions
The main contribution to tertiary education by private institutions is in the field of business and computer studies, with key international players being Damelin from South Africa and NIIT from India. In 2001, a small group of private entrepreneurs will open the first private tertiary institution in Botswana in Francistown. They hope to attract people forced to retire at 60 who still have a lot to contribute to the development of the nation through education and training. The new college will begin by offering foundation year courses, particularly in the sciences.

National Service (Tirelo Setshaba)
Botswana established a unique form of national service that was non-military, civilian-based, and designed to place individual participants in institutions such as primary schools, village courts and health clinics, while they would live with host families in the community where they were assigned.

Tirelo Setshaba was intended to absorb all Form V school leavers, but it fell far short of this goal as the output of the educational system rose. Tirelo Setshaba began with 28 volunteers in 1980 and by 1997, the program involved 6,300 participants and cost more than $10 million a year. The program was also designed to promote national development and a commitment to rural development from the future elite of the country. By the late 1980s, though, more and more participants were being placed in urban villages and towns, a move required by the rapid expansion of the scheme, which negated the original objectives.

In 1999, the government of Botswana decided that it would terminate Tirelo Setshaba as of April 2000. Though on the surface, this would result in significant savings, the termination of national service had many hidden costs. The number seeking entrance to further study thus escalated from around 12,000 to more than 20,000. The UB agreed to take up to 700 more students than the 2,800 it normally would have admitted in August 2000. This has resulted in significant overcrowding at the university, since its facilities were not expanded to meet this demand.

Note: For detailed account on the state of higher education in Botswana, please consult: Sheldon G. Weeks, African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook (Damtew Teferra and Philip. G. Altbach, eds., Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 180-194.