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“We are at your disposal. Please use us.” This is the message emphasised by the Vice Chancellor, Professor David Norris, when he met Botswana’s captains of industry at the UB Stadium VIP Lounge on March 2, 2018.

Professor Norris’ message was simple: The University of Botswana is not an ivory tower packed with aloof intellectuals, but a fountain of knowledge and expertise that Batswana can tap into to solve common problems besides charting new development trajectories.

He said such called for collaborative research between the University and industry. “We want to collaborate with you to reinvent higher education,” echoed Professor Norris to a cohort of corporate leaders who set aside a few hours from their busy schedule to demonstration their willingness to help the Vice Chancellor, who is only three months into his new job, realise his vision.

Indeed, there was an aura of optimism as Professor Norris unveiled his vision and laid down his plans. The corporate leaders could not help nodding to his presentation as he highlighted that his vision was to have the University of Botswana leading research into problems bedevilling industry and coming up with innovative ways of solving them.

“We want to have research that is informed by industry. We want more research centres to carry out research into specialised areas,” said the Vice Chancellor, giving example of the Okavango Research Institute specialised research into the Okavango Delta.

Professor Norris appealed to corporate leaders to consider funding research into specialised areas or sponsoring centres of excellence to help UB intensify its research drive.

He further highlighted opportunities for collaboration between UB and industry, some of which were to co-design the curriculum and having practitioners in different fields as guest lecturers, as well as participating in faculty or departmental advisory boards.

“You can come as guest lecturers. We want practitioners in our classrooms,” appealed Professor Norris. He added that the University could help improve productivity in the industry by offering tailor-made programmes and short courses for their staff. He also said the Faculty of Business was currently exploring business opportunities in the European Union market that could come handy for entities looking to expand their markets.

Professor Norris reiterated that UB was not an inward-looking university given the numerous partnerships and collaborative agreements it had signed with other international universities to broaden and strengthen its programmes and courses.

However, he noted that given a small number of international students there was need for UB to cast its net wider to attract more international students. He appealed to practitioners in the different fields to engage the University in building versatile graduates who possess attributes that could land them jobs anywhere in the world.

He also pleaded with the corporate leaders to utilise facilities at UB such as the stadium, state-of-the-art indoor sports centre and conference centre to help the University generate income.

On community outreach, Professor Norris said UB was incubating some start-up companies to help grow Batswana’s businesses. Faculty deans and heads of departments also buttressed his presentation by enumerating a number of community projects and industry collaborations that their faculties and departments were engaged in.

Commenting, the corporate leaders, among them Investec Chief Executive Officer, Mr Martinus Seboni, and Mr Mmetla Masire of Water Utilities Corporation, commended Professor Norris for taking such an initiative to engage them.

They explained that initially they were in the dark about how to get involved, hence the presentation was insightful in that getting UB engaged in different spheres as a thought leader made life easier for Batswana to appreciate the different aspects of their existence.

At the end of the presentations, the corporate leaders were taken on a tour of some facilities at the University, among them the Campus Indoor Sports Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences and the UB Conference Centre. They were later on treated to a sumptuous lunch.