Botho University to build campus in F/town

CHAKALISA DUBE
Staff Writer | Tuesday May 21, 2013 00:00

'Construction is expected to begin around November.  The structure of the university will resemble our main campus in Gaborone which can accommodate nearly 3,000 learners.

For now, I cannot divulge the amount that will be invested on the construction of the campus because we are still at the planning stage, but obviously it will be a multi-million pula building,' she said. The institution held its first graduation ceremony as a fully-fledged university last month.  Ram told Mmegi that the university plans to construct another campus in Maun. ÒWe are yet to secure land for the Maun campus.

'As soon as we have acquired land, that is when plans for constructing a campus in Maun can begin,' she said.'Accommodation in Gaborone is very scarce especially for students coming from the north of the country.

We have had situations where students struggled to get accommodation after gaining admission at our main campus in Gaborone which has the capacity to admit many students.   We believe building campuses in Francistown and Maun will increase the capacity of students that could be admitted. This could help lessen congestion in Gaborone, in the process lessening accommodation crisis and living cost for learners in the proximity of Maun and Francistown,Ó she explained.

After being given the go ahead to function as a university, Botho has submitted proposals to offer science and engineering programmes to the Tertiary Education Council (TEC) for approval.  'The only challenge that we are likely to experience is shortage of the academic staff for the respective programmes. We have shortage of academic staff at the school.

At times, we advertise positions for lecturers but end up receiving very few applications,' Ram said.