With universities the world over becoming more entrepreneurial, the new University of Botswana Vice Chancellor, Professor David Norris looks set to refocus the University to adopt a similar trajectory.
Meeting the Kenyan High Commissioner, Ambassador Jean Kimani during her courtesy call on December 6, 2017, the VC spoke passionately about universities moving towards entrepreneurship to stay afloat amid dwindling resources.
“We have to be on our feet to see how we can generate income for ourselves. We need to move into that mode because universities are financially squeezed the world over,” said Professor Norris. The University can do this through translating intellectual capital into business. The technologies created through our research activities could be further developed into marketable products and services for societal benefit. Professor Norris added that UB’s comparative advantage were the state-of-the-art facilities such as the Campus Indoor Sports Centre which could be used to attract international sports persons at a fee. The UB Conference Centre could also become handy in that endeavour, according to the Vice Chancellor.
Professor Norris said he was delighted to have met Ambassador Kimani given that Kenya had a lot to offer UB in terms of institutional collaborations since the country was well advanced in the information and technology sector.
He regretted that the tendency for African universities had been to rush to Europe and the United States of America to forge collaborations when they could do it within the continent. He said UB could learn better in Kenya because of similar conditions and environment. Professor Norris asked Ambassador Kimani to help him forge collaborations with Kenyan universities, particulalry in research as well as staff and student exchanges.
The Vice Chancellor also emphasised the need for UB to create linkages with industry and the communities it served in order to have impact.
In response, Ambassador Kimani expressed delight for the working relationship between UB and her office. She said UB played a huge role in a number of activities her office organised especially during the commemoration of the Wangari Maathai Day where they organised a public lecture and tree planting exercise.
Ambassador Kimani acknowledged the expertise her country could share with Botswana especially in the area of ICT. She said in Kenya universities have what they call i-Hubs where ideas were nurtured to a practical level.
Ambassador Kimani said her office valued the relationship it enjoyed with UB and expressed the desire to do more because there was a lot of room to expand such relations.