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INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION

A Policy Shift in Botswana's Higher Education Landscape

Isaac N. Obasi
Isaac N. Obasi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana and secretary of the Tertiary Education Research Seminar. Address: Private Bag 0022, Gaborone, Botswana. He is also a regular columnist on higher education for the Daily Champion newspaper, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: zikobasi@yahoo.com and obasiin@mopipi.ub.bw.

A country with about 1.7 million people, Botswana is generally described by development scholars as an exceptional African success story. Politically it has been a model of democracy on a continent where military dictatorship reigned for too long. It is also an economic miracle, having transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world at its independence in 1966 to its present status of a middle-income country. Presently, the country's tertiary education sector consists of one university and a number of other postsecondary institutions. A key feature of its higher education landscape is public ownership and control. However, as elsewhere, the forces of globalization and internal demands for expansion of access are exerting tremendous pressures for change. Consequently, in line with global trends, a new tertiary education policy is being proposed.

Pressures on the Higher Education Landscape
As the major actor, the government sponsors almost all tertiary education students both at home and abroad through the provision of student loans. Since 1990, the government has been spending on average 1 percent of GDP on tertiary education, which is a reasonably high level compared to other African countries. However, enrollment figures at all tertiary institutions remain below the level of demand for access, with only 12 percent of the 18?24 age cohort presently at the range of institutions (awarding certificates, diplomas, or degrees)—as low as 6.9 percent of the higher education subsector.

The existing order has increasingly come under pressure for change. Proponents cite the inability of the existing university to expand access, which has already led to the idea of a second university. Designated as an international university of science and technology, the new university has been planned to introduce a new market orientation into the higher education landscape. Proponents also cite the overdependence of the university on government funding as both precarious and unsustainable. The decreasing support in the last two years is a danger signal. In the 2005/06 fiscal year, government funding provided about 66 percent of the university's budget.

The Direction of the Emerging Policy
In 2004, the Tertiary Education Council (TEC) established a Working Group on the Tertiary Education Policy for Botswana. The TEC wants the government to adopt a tertiary education policy that will be "cognizant of global trends and pressures that are impacting on tertiary education in Botswana" and "responsive to specific societal challenges and needs."

Although the TEC proposes wider changes in line with globalization, it also provides an affirmation of some policies and practices that are already in place. For example, some years ago, the University of Botswana implemented a restructuring policy in line with global trends of managerial-oriented leadership, privatization, the outsourcing of such services, and the commercialization of some services. At the level of the state, the government has already adopted some neoliberal policies such as privatization, public-private partnership, and outsourcing of selected services.

In the education sector, the government has cautiously introduced a partial cost-sharing policy at the secondary school level as a testing ground for the future. Furthermore, ownership of tertiary education institutions has been liberalized and the extent of private providers is growing. It is estimated that in 2004, over 100 private providers registered with the Ministry of Education, mainly for the running of nondegree technical and vocational programs. However, there are other foreign private providers running professional and master's degree programs. For example, the Limkokwing University in Malaysia has been offered registration by the TEC to run both diploma and degree programs. So far only a few private higher education providers have been registered and accredited by the TEC.

Fear of Losing the "Only Son" Status
Critics of the envisaged policy fear that funding, academic standards, state sponsorship of students, and the international character of academic staff may be adversely affected when the University of Botswana loses its status as the "only son" in the higher education landscape. Greater reduction of government support may have a negative impact on its ability to retain senior-level expatriate staff and maintain academic standards. Over the years, the University of Botswana has played a critical role in the training of the required manpower for the country's rapid development. The university has attracted expatriate scholars, who constitute 35 percent of its academic staff. It is feared that further reductions in government funding may affect the ability of the university to maintain its competitive edge in Africa. Such a loss of status might challenge the University of Botswana's vision of serving as "a leading academic center of excellence in Africa and the world."

A concomitant issue concerns alternative and sustainable sources of funding. In line with globalization trends elsewhere, the adoption of a cost-sharing policy by the university is a likely option. However, this approach may be more controversial than in other developing countries, for citizens are long used to what a recent report by a government-appointed council (the Business Economic Advisory Council) called "a culture of entitlements" and of living in a "comfort zone." The council's characterization of Botswana as "a relatively low-income country with a high-income lifestyle" does not raise any hope that a cost-sharing policy would be easy to implement.

[Online] Available: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/Number46/p20_Obasi.htm