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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 12, No. 12
Publication Date: December 25, 2024
DOI:10.14738/abr.1212.18043.
Marobela, M. N. (2024). Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana: From Public Education to Entrepreneurism.
Archives of Business Research, 12(12). 177-188.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana:
From Public Education to Entrepreneurism
Marobela, M. N.
Faculty of Business, University of Botswana
ABSTRACT
This article examines the concept of entrepreneurial university and its applicability
to Botswana. This is a general conceptual analysis with a special focus directed at
the University of Botswana. It traces its emergence and the extent to which it is
embraced as an alternative to traditional model of education under the rubric of
state-owned public university. Although entrepreneurial educational model is
increasingly, getting global attention, it is not so widely established in the global
south, where the role of the public sector in providing social services is still
imperative. Understandably so because many people in developing countries are
still struggling with the basics hence privately paid education whose raison-detre is
profit making will not be affordable unless funded or subsidised by the state. The
research provides insights into the influx of newly established privately owned
universities which could be classified as entrepreneurial. Researchers contend that
their emergence is driven by the neoliberal agenda in education which underpins
the market supremacy and private universities as contributing to investment and
job creation. These universities are not directly funded by the state, they are
autonomous and self-run; the government only sponsors the students enrolled in
their courses by paying their tuition fees.
Keywords: neoliberalism, entrepreneurial university, University of Botswana.
INTRODUCTION
In Africa, the history of entrepreneurial university goes back to colonialism. Then a few schools
existed, some publicly owned and others private. Private schools were owned by the
missionaries whose mission was to help provide basic education to colonies, whilst also
pursuing Christian religious ideology. In Southern Africa, the Catholics owned primary schools
and associated colleges. This extended further to higher education when they founded a private
university, though not purely entrepreneurial. The Catholic University College, which later
became Pius XII Catholic University College, University of Basutoland, Bechuanaland
Protectorate and Swaziland, was an early model of social entrepreneurship university.
Following the attainment of independence, the national states built public schools and national
publicly funded university. The University of Botswana was built through a community funded
self-help appeal contribution. Ordinary people gave generously and kindly to government fund:
money, goats, chickens, eggs, to cattle. Such pledges marked the spirit of self-reliance which is
embodied in the core values that defined Botswana nascent nationhood, marking a departure
from British colonial independence. It is against this background that due care must be
exercised in any attempt to turn a community funded and owned university into an
entrepreneurial venture as this will be tantamount to privatisation of education. The recent
resturucruring of the University of Botswana to introduce High Performance Organization, is a
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classic case of transformation towards privatisation, especially as it comes with retrenchment
of university worker’s, who will lose jobs to private companies, as is the case now with catering,
cleaning, security worker’s, whose jobs have no terminal benefits such as pension, as they are
temporary and precarious. What angered university of Botswana worker’s is that management
workers, is that when they started the process of restructuring, they wrote to the commercial
banks, subsequently the banks stooped lending money to staff as a precautionary risk measure.
However, the same University management requested loans from the banks to fire workers by
paying voluntary exit packages. To secure the loans, they bonded university buildings as
security. The new privately owned school, Awil College, which operates at the media studies in
the university, is a sign that wheels of private ownership are gradually grinding to
entrepreneurism, within the public education space.
A related aspect to this is the role of the university in academic research, some research might
be beneficial but does not necessarily generate profit driven outcomes, and hence the private
sector will not be interred to invest. In fact, the same might apply to the establishment of
university, where the private sector is not willing to risk capital because the returns are low.
According to Clark (1998) a university can be entrepreneurial if its organisational culture is
characterized by collective mind-set in which entrepreneurship is facilitated in a combined top- down bottom-up fashion including a high tolerance for risk taking. A case in point is the new
Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), which was
conceptualised as part of Private Partnership model. It was expected that the private sector will
contribute start-up funding to partner with government, however this was not to be because
they reneged, and leaving government to finance the multi-million project. This was possible
because government was not doing it for profit but to help provide science education, a field
that is critically needed for the economy.
GLOBALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM & ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY
The concept of entrepreneurial university or “academic capitalism” was first propounded by
Slaughter and Leslie (1997) and taken further by Clark (1998). Since then, there has been an
extensive and intense debate about it, in particular, scholars tend to differ on its global
applicability (Deem, 2010) given different national specificity and sensitivity, for example the
level of a country’s development matters in reforming education in consonance with global
trends.
At higher education, Hardy (1991, 127) argues that pressure for reforms has been driven by a
unitary perspective which sought to “changing enrolment patterns, government funding
restrictions, and demands for increased accountability from public paymasters have led
university administrators to turn to the business world”. This unyielding pressure for
transformation to the business model has been widespread globally and in Africa where it has
been mediated through the new public management (Marobela, 2008). Similarly, in a bid
respond and adapt, the University of Botswana has gone through this change, specifically
restructuring exercise which Tabulawa, (2007) posits that it must be seen in the context of
global trends such as knowledge-based economy but also situated within local context where
there is also pressure for neoliberal reforms. Such reforms for example entail cutting the budget
and using private sector managerial style of management than collegial management which
promote free flow of ideas, discourse analysis and engagement.
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Marobela, M. N. (2024). Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana: From Public Education to Entrepreneurism. Archives of
Business Research, 12(12). 177-188.
URL: http://doi.org/10.14738/abr.1212.18043
The Chancellor is appointed by the President and the Council is appointed from outside by the
Ministry of Education. The vice chancellor is appointed by the ministry of education, upon
recommendation of the Council. Ironically, members of staff whose interests are superbly
critical, have no real power to exercise in determining university leadership. With
neoliberalism the balance of power has shifted from academic staff to administrators as result
of restructuring, which saw more managers and directors appointed to manage academic staff.
According to Fako, (2004) this restructuring is part of the global managerial revolution that
came with authoritarian style of management. The introduction of performance management
system (PMS), for example is a clear case of how managerialism solidified the power
asymmetry in favour of managers at the detriment of academic staff who felt demotivated
(Marobela and Marobela, 2012) by unreasonable performance standards, applied as part of
adoption of neoliberaism. Presently the grip of managerial power over academic staff has not
relented if anything it has cemented. Thus, occasional complaints of management by fear and
disciplinary threats are raised by staff. Recently some staff members successfully took
management to court over forced and procedural restructuring. The union have also raised
concerns of management disregarding collective labour agreements and the tendency to take
unilateral decisions.
Such reforms are in tone with the World Bank and IMF mantra, which views the public sector
as huge, wasteful, and inefficient hence the call to privatise and outsource some of the work to
the efficient private market. It is from the emergence of neoliberalism with its strong rhetoric
and narrative of over-blotted public service and wasteful government that the urgency for
privatisation became strongly pushed both globally and locally. This also meant that
government must show concrete support for the nascent private sector both ideologically and
financially. In terms of public education, the university of Botswana has faced increasing
pressure to move away from the social sciences as they were perceived to be not in tandem
with the demands of the strong lobbying private sector and therefore of less value to the
economy. Former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae signalled this;
“Passing through Molepolole last month, Mogae complained about the poor work
ethic of public servants. Under normal circumstances, education (supposing there
is no traditional dancing during school time involved) should empower its intended
beneficiaries but Mogae’s administration saw record numbers of jobless graduates
roam the streets. Invited to give a lecture at the University of Botswana which, as
president, he is titular head of, Mogae suggested that studying courses like political
science was not going to be helpful in terms of getting a job. Some people rapped
him on the knuckles for that comment, but a government-commissioned study also
found that it is vital to ensure that academic qualifications are aligned with what
the labour market needs”. Bashi Letsididi (Mogae - No easy walk to citizen
empowerment, 16 Mar 2008, Sunday Standard).
In a way these debates relate to the dynamics of power at the global front and how it is projected
to shape the nature, content, and delivery of education at a micro level. With globalisation there
has been a profound shift from education as an essential need, of public good for the common
good of society. Today, capitalist globalisation has commoditized education, in ways which
make it restricted and controlled to suit the dictates of the market. The vagaries of the market
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forces determine who can pay and afford education and what education to be offered in
universities. With the continuing global economic crisis, for example, students across the globe,
from US, UK and Botswana are indebted and will pay heavily for the grants/loans in future. That
is why there is resistance and a call for an alternative for free education. It is no wonder that in
recent years we have witnessed a growing swell of mass protests from angry students who
clashed with university management and government on high fees which go the agenda of
liberalisation of education.
The mass student protests in South African Schools, code named #fees-must fall, galvanized
students around a common campaign for affordable decent education. The pressure and anger
of young people resonated with the pre-liberation freedom chatter which promised South
Africans that “the doors to learning shall be open and education shall be free, compulsory,
universal and equal for all children; Higher education and technical training shall be opened to
all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit”
(http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=72 ). The protests forced the Zuma regime to back off on
the planned increase in fees, that way the South African government was sensitive to the
demands of its people, bearing in mind the weight of the global institutional calls for cutting
public spending while demanding increase in fees and taxes. As alluded to earlier these events
should be placed in context of the advent of neo-liberal ideology which praises the efficacy
market in allocating resources. Yet, putting pressure on governments to toe the Washington
consensus values, of deregulation, liberalisation, and the privatising the public sector to open
it up private sector market:
Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that
human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and
skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free
markets, and free trade (Harvey, 2005).
However, this assumed freedom is more about freeing the market to accumulate and make
more profits, while on the other the space for expressing dissent is curtailed. For example, some
of the new entrepreneurial universities in Botswana have been dogged with students protest
demanding better facilities and qualified lecturers, but instead of listening and addressing these
concerns, management of the university's response has been to attack the student leaders by
suspension or expulsion as they are regarded as rabble-rousers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Clark (1998) posits that, at the heart of an entrepreneurial university there is a strong and
expedient central decision-making body which enable it to react to expanding and changing
market conditions. In cases where academic staff have little influence and power in strategic
decisions regarding academic issues in their universities, there tends to be minimal growth
towards becoming entrepreneurial. Non-academic administrators tend to be transactional in
their leadership and decision making. Private universities need to be flexible and more dynamic
to changing needs of both learners and the industry if they are to remain competitive and
relevant. Considerable risk profile of private universities enables them to discover continuous
funding streams such as government, private organisations, alumni fund raising, intellectual
property, campus services, student fees etc. External expectations for economic development
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Marobela, M. N. (2024). Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana: From Public Education to Entrepreneurism. Archives of
Business Research, 12(12). 177-188.
URL: http://doi.org/10.14738/abr.1212.18043
and internal pressures to generate new sources of income have also led to universities
escalating their involvement in technology transfer and transforming university research into
marketable products (Powers and McDougall, 2003).
Organisations have an economic incentive to invest in the development of technical knowledge
when they and not others, can appropriate the economic returns from that knowledge (Arrow,
1962). These therefore counter the effort by universities to partner with several firms in
development of technical knowledge. Instead of collaboration between universities and firms,
the later tends to partner with universities on individual basis and seeking self-centred
outcomes. Universities rarely manufacture goods or provide services other than education,
making it difficult for them to profit financially from inventions that must be incorporated into
products and services before they are sold. Therefore, universities appropriate the economies
returns to invention exclusively through licensing. This is a constraint on universities becoming
entrepreneurial.
METHODOLOGY
The research design draws from critical realism philosophy. This paradigm emphasizes the
importance of causal explanatory research and the role played by social context in shaping
phenomena (For a detailed exposition (See: Bhaskar, 1978b, Sayer, 1984, Fleetwood, 1999).
Realist’s causality is not associated with positivist cause and effect factor, which is often taken
to be reducible to empirical quantitative representation of reality (Carr, 2000). The intention is
not to take observations and correlation to validate generalisation and make predictions
derived from empirical (mostly quantitative) representations of reality (Ekstrom, 1992).
Realist philosophy is anchored on the concept of stratification, hence acknowledgement of a
different multi-layered ontology. In this sense reality is not limited to empirical observation of
causal events but extends to recognize abstraction of contextual factors. In this respect, the
research uses conceptual theory to explore the context in which education is transformed in
Botswana to understand role played by the structures, social and cultural relations. Such
interventions from global agents, governments, university management, staff and students'
interface in ways that helps to understand the contestation ideas and engagement in concrete
form when implementation of change is advocated, advanced, and resisted.
Documentary reports supported by discourse analysis is combined with researchers own
subjective experiences as workers and interactions at the university of Botswana, is used reflect
on the changes at the university of Botswana as a public university aspiring to transform some
of its features to echo with the notion of entrepreneurship. We also examine new private
universities which have in recent years proliferated to the extent that some have grown to
establish new branches in Botswana regional areas. Considering the importance of national
context, our approach takes the Resource Based-View (RBV) (Penrose, 2013) methodology to
underscore the need and criticality for an adequately resourced university. It therefore follows
that the extent to which an entrepreneurial university could make impact in terms of different
competences such as innovativeness will depended on resources both human and technical. In
relation to Botswana we find that some of the new private entrepreneurial universities recently
established, are poorly resourced and staffs are not sufficiently trained and motivated. While
the University of Botswana is well resourced in physical infrastructure but severely
incapacitated finally to engage in robust innovative research. For example, it so difficult for
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university staff to attend conferences abroad or get research funds because of bureaucratic
managerialism. Yet top management frequently travel abroad on first class, at prohibitive cost,
yet the real benefits which accrue from these trips are minimal.
REFLECTIONS ON ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY IN BOTSWANA
The University of Botswana was founded in 1982, following the separation of the three
University Colleges of University of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland, (UBLS). It is now a fully- fledged University with six faculties, the recent one being the school of medicine. The university
of Botswana vision and mission is based on pursuit of academic excellence and contribution to
the socio-economic welfare of society. These are noble goals which resonate with the ideals of
entrepreneurship. For universities are not ivory towers, isolated from the community, through
scholarly research and engagement they can develop innovative solutions that respond to the
needs of people. By educating across a wide spectrum of human endeavour the University of
Botswana contributes to the economic development.
The Faculty of Business could be termed the entrepreneurial division of the university since its
focus is to teach students business skills and practice. The faculty has four departments
resembling functional areas of business management-like marketing, management, accounting
& finance. Tourism and hospitality are a new addition, which was introduced to tap in the
tourism sector as it is the second largest contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after
diamonds. In addition, the department of Management has added new programmes like
Entrepreneurship and Logistics. For postgraduate studies, the now defunct Graduate School of
Business, provided middle to higher executive training in Master of Business Administration
(MBA) and Executive Master in Entrepreneurship, the graduate school is a member of the global
MBA association and therefore it must meet certain standards and expectations required for
accreditation. For outreach programmes and support to the business community, the faculty
uses the Business Clinic; plans are underway to transform it into a centre for entrepreneurship.
The Business Clinic has been mandated to offer consultancy to the public and to empower
students by giving them applied knowledge and training in start-ups. The Business Clinic is self- funded through the funds it accumulates from its three enterprises namely Koffi Cabin, Koffi
cabin on Ice and Inkdrop. These enterprises are run by students as a way of giving them hands
on experience in managing enterprises. They are not commercial enterprises even though they
have potential of going the commercial route. Being student run implies a lot of trial and error
which sometimes impedes profit making. The students are not paid, they run the enterprises
as part of their study programme. This sometimes leads to problems motivation, accountability,
and responsibility.
Members of Business Clinic and UB students undergo several trainings including
Entrepreneurial Development Training (EDT) which is offered in partnership with Local
Enterprise Authority (LEA) to screened completing students from all tertiary institutions in
Botswana. EDT equips completing students with basic entrepreneurial skills; it unravels the
opportunity identification process. The Business Clinic has partnered with LEA to ensure that
completing students from various institutions are given skills to venture into entrepreneurship
(Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1995). In other words, the university is taking into consideration
economic issues of high youth unemployment (Lopez, 2013).
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Marobela, M. N. (2024). Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana: From Public Education to Entrepreneurism. Archives of
Business Research, 12(12). 177-188.
URL: http://doi.org/10.14738/abr.1212.18043
The establishment research and development at University of Botswana is one attempt to
institutionalise and commercialise research which could be of economic value. This supported
by the legal affairs department, with the signing of memorandums of understanding for joint or
collaborative research with external partners. The faculty of Business could be the
entrepreneurial arm of the university because it provides business education. Moreover, it
gives nascent support through the business clinic and business incubation programme. The
incubation programme offers support to students’ start-ups (only students enrolled in
Entrepreneurship programme) for about six months. Resources are still extremely limited
which compelled facilitators to group students instead of having them running businesses
individually. This is a good development towards being entrepreneurial even though funds are
a limiting factor, to having more business coaches and mentors on board. More could be done
in terms of outreach training programmes such as leadership, entrepreneurship, and
management development. A major constraint in embracing some of the entrepreneurial
attributes is the structure and management. The University of Botswana is funded by
government, and to a larger extent managed by government through a bureaucratic structure
which tends to slow decision making hence impedes on innovation.
The faculty of Business has partnered with Global Business Labs (GBL). Stockholm based
company, to offer an accelerator programme which helps companies get the basic right from
start. They help teams turn great ideas into sales and give the selected companies an
opportunity of growth in the lab with all the resources. The constraint on the side of UB is the
resources, there is limited space for companies in the lab. A positive aspect is that UB has signed
a memorandum of understanding with GBL, and the latter has come on board and helping in
technology dissemination and knowledge sharing. GBL has annual business idea competition
in which the winner gets an award in the form of funds to start up a business. This in a way
increase channels through which UB reaches out to the public and make relevant contributions.
GBL staff from Stockholm assist in entrepreneurship classes as Guest Lecturers occasionally
and they offer short course training to Faculty of Business members.
So, taking all these into account the University of Botswana has a lot more to do in terms of best
practice management innovations that are needed to enhance entrepreneurial environment. A
university needs individuals with strong entrepreneurship spirit and supporting organisational
structures for it to be entrepreneurial (OECD, 2006). This implies that entrepreneurship is vital
in universities. Recruitment of staff in universities aspiring to be entrepreneurial should not
only focus on the technical skills, but on the soft skills such as innovativeness, risk taking and
flexibility. Universities have always been the spanner wheel behind economic development
through knowledge dissemination (Lopez, 2013). New roles of universities include creating,
transferring, and commercialising knowledge. Creation and development of commercial
activities within universities requires insights into transitions towards entrepreneurial
universities. But Entreprenurial ventures should not come as the burden.
TRIPLE HELIX MODEL
The triple helix model was developed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1995). Since then, it has
been used as a guiding framework for entrepreneurial university, especially to illustrate the
relationship of critical stakeholders-university, industry, and government. However, some have
criticized the model for ignoring contextual factors, for example, paying less attention to
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contradictions within stakeholder interactions. Moreover, it has been criticized for failing to
recognise the role played by workers, as key player (Cai, 2015:301), other have found it limiting
as it does not accommodate the publics- hence the proposal for the fourth Helix ___ Quadruple
Helix, (Leydesdorff, 2011). More concrete technologically and innovative driven ventures are
needed especially at higher education, however the private sector is failing to participate and
lead except to expect government tenders. The government funded Botswana Innovation Hub,
Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation are welcome centres of innovation
and technology. If properly supported and given requisite power and lead by accomplished
professors in respective fields, they have the potential for stimulating value driven innovative
research projects. This, however, means forging closer partnerships with the critical
universities locally and globally.
Triple Helix Model Source (ETSSP: 167)
The triple helix model has been adopted by government of Botswana in the Education and
Training Strategic Sector Plan, taking from Stanford University framework (above), the new
policy on education elucidates government long term intentions:
“Botswana should draw lessons from international best practice where tertiary
institutions are moving from the traditional role of being sources of human
resources and knowledge to being sources of technology generation and transfer.
Rather than just serving as sources of innovative ideas for existing firms,
universities are now combining their research, teaching strengths, and becoming
sources of firm formation; especially in areas of science and technology. Their
research and innovation feeds industrialization and the economic growth of
knowledge- economies and creates further knowledge. They achieve self- sustenance by participating in profitable off-shoots of their research and
innovation (ETSSP: 167)”.
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Marobela, M. N. (2024). Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana: From Public Education to Entrepreneurism. Archives of
Business Research, 12(12). 177-188.
URL: http://doi.org/10.14738/abr.1212.18043
It is clear government sees the private sector participation in education as a potential for future
investment. This, however, has always been done as some of the large government projects like
building classrooms and schools have always been fully funded by government and work given
to the private sector. The policy call for private sector intervention in innovation and
technology is spot on but one would have expected that after more than 4 decades in mining
partnership with De Beers, the country will have seen research and innovation in mining at the
university of Botswana or better still a whole entrepreneurial mining university. This would
have elevated Botswana not just as the biggest producer of diamonds but also as a centre of
excellence in diamond production, manufacturing research and knowledge.
Both Research and Development and higher education can be analysed in terms of markets
(Dasgupta and David, 1994). Rosenberg and Nelson, (1994) argued that academic technology
transfer mechanisms may create unnecessary transaction costs by encapsulating knowledge in
patents that might otherwise flow freely to industry. But would the knowledge be efficiently
transferred to industry without the series of mechanisms for identifying and enhancing the
applicability of research findings. It is not planned how the development processes to be carried
further, through special grants for this purpose or in new firms formed on campus and in
university incubator facilities. The innovations aim to promote closer relations between
faculties and firms. Research funded as an end itself with only long-term practical results
expected is being replaced by an endless transition model in which basic research is linked to
utilization through a series of intermediate processes often stimulated by the government
(Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000)
Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff identified that a strong Triple Helix was characterised not only by
good partnerships between actors, but the tensions played out. Inevitably, coalitions faced
problems that led to tensions and so it was in the spaces where those led to tensions and so it
was in the spaces where those tensions could be most productively solved that the most
dynamic and economically successful places evolved (Benneworth, Smith and Bagchi-Sen,
2015). With pressure from policy makers, it is hardly surprising that Triple helix models have
become a holy grail for those seeking to make places more entrepreneurial, including people
working for universities, local government, or innovative businesses. Different people mean
different things when they talk about the Triple Helix. Some are talking about two convergent
bodies of literature explaining territorial dynamics from either a neo-institutional or neo- evolutionary starting point. Another broader group of academic researchers studying
territorial innovation find it useful to make a distinction between the three different
components and to explore the three sets of bilateral relationships as well as the collective
effects they have. Practitioners are concerned with trying to bring together a group of actors
and encourage more collaboration than competition in innovation. One reason the Triple helix
concept has been so successful is that it has had the conceptual power to speak to all these
constituencies simultaneously and to help them address intractable challenges related to the
development of the knowledge economy (Benneworth, Smith and Bagchi-Sen, 2015).
CONCLUSION
Higher education in the world has experienced periodic calls for greater relevance to society
since early history. Despite the growth in both formal and informal entrepreneurial activities
involving university inventions over the past 20 years, little scholarly research has explored the
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topic (Mowery and Shane, 2002). It has been argued that university research affects private
sector innovation. Public research affects industrial research and development in a variety of
manufacturing industries and non-market channels of knowledge flow such as publications and
conferences are the most important channels of these effects. University research in Botswana
does not fully contribute to innovation. Botswana Innovation Hub and Botswana Institute for
Technology Research and Innovation have been established to drive innovation in Botswana.
University of Botswana has partnered with BIH through GBL in ensuring that competitors for
lab space generate and pitch innovative and scalable business ideas. Further partnerships could
be forged on research projects.
Mowey and Shane (2002) concluded that financial incentives played little or no role in
motivating members of universities to undertake the research projects that produced the
inventions of interest and in most cases private sector undertake commercial development of
these inventions without exclusive licences to them. The research projects tend to be
acknowledged in academia only when one researcher cites or reference the other. In
manufacturing industry however, products hardly bear names of researchers who contributed
to their efficiency due to limited protection of ideas.
Entrepreneurial university proved to be a university where risk taking is a normal phenomenon
when new practices are initiated and where entrepreneurship is often perceived as taking
innovative practices to a commercial profit exploiting stage. The collective action enables
universities to become entrepreneurial universities. Transformation occurs when several
various individuals come together and agree on a new vision. Private universities in Botswana
can be defined in the context of entrepreneurial universities whereas public state-owned
universities are still lagging in being entrepreneurial. They are constrained by a few factors
including the structure, the processes, and policies in place. The University of Botswana has
made initiatives to become entrepreneurial.
In Botswana, the history of entrepreneurial universities goes back to colonialism. The number
of both private and public schools has increased drastically since independence. Private schools
in higher learning are very much reliant of the government for sponsoring their students. In
most cases without tuition fees from the government most private colleges and universities
would go bankrupt because parents cannot afford high tuition fees which views education as a
commodity not a public good. The entrepreneurialism of public universities in Botswana, will
bring more harm than benefit as the private owners will be motivated by generating profits at
the expense of quality. For now, the two streams, should be allowed to exist, as most the funding
for both public and private institutions come from the government. However, there is need for
a regulatory framework which minimum standards for quality (facilities, faculty, and tuition).
Going forwarded entrepreneurialism should be viewed also as a governmental business,
government can provide the same programmes at higher quality by investing more in
education-both physical and human resources.
References
Bashi Letsididi Mogae - No easy walk to citizen empowerment, 16 Mar 2008, Sunday Standard
Benneworth, P., Smith, H.L. and Bagchi-Sen, S. (Building inter-organizational synergies in the regional Triple
Helix). Industry & Higher Education Vol 29, No 1, 5–10.
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Marobela, M. N. (2024). Neoliberal and Transformation of the University of Botswana: From Public Education to Entrepreneurism. Archives of
Business Research, 12(12). 177-188.
URL: http://doi.org/10.14738/abr.1212.18043
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