University of Botswana - FB Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften RPTU

Exchange programme with the University of Botswana

Gaborone, Botswana

About the University of Botswana

Established in 1982, the University of Botswana is located in Gaborone (Southern Africa), the largest city and capital of the country, and one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. The institution is a leading academic center of excellence across the African continent. It currently has a student enrolment of over 16,000, distributed across the faculties of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, Business, and many more. Its motto is "Thuto Ke Thebe", meaning 'education is a shield'. Campus life offers many amenities, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an entertainment arena, and sports courts (basketball, tennis, handball, netball, volleyball). The university is also adjacent to the National Stadium, which is available for university use. The practice fields outside the stadium are the location for university intramural sports. The university also provides a free medical clinic and counseling services. The new main library is one of the largest university libraries in Africa with five floors and a large and more modern computer network. The official language of Botswana and the medium of instruction at the university is English although Setswana is widely spoken across the country.

Website: http://www.ub.bw/

The exchange programme

Since 2005, the exchange programme between Landau and Botswana has been funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); generally the DAAD aims to establish stable and in the long run self-supporting working relationships between German and foreign universities. In this programme groups of highly qualified German and foreign students study a fully acknowledged part of their degree course at the respective partner university, usually for a period of 4 months.

Visit of the RPTU in Landau delegation at the University of Botswana in June 2024

In June 2024, a delegation from RPTU in Landau visited our partner university in Botswana. The delegation was led by Prof. Gabriele Schaumann, co-president of RPTU. The last high-level delegation from University of Koblenz-Landau, the predecessor of RPTU in Landau, visited UB in 2015.

The aim of the present visit was a renewal and expansion of the partnership between the University of Botswana (UB) in Gaborone and RPTU. UB and RPTU in Landau have been cooperating for almost 20 years, more precisely since 2005 through their English Departments (at Landau starting with Prof. Dr. Martin Pütz, now Prof. Dr. Frank Polzenhagen and Dr. Neele Mundt). Up to now, this cooperation has mainly taken the form of mutual student and staff exchanges (3 students and 1 lecturer in each direction per year), financed by the DAAD program "International Study and Training Partnerships" (ISAP). The current ISAP project expires in the middle of next year (2025).

A new ISAP project application will be submitted in the fall of this year (2024). Both universities discussed ways to improve the conditions for their mutual exchange activities. Another reason for the visit was that RPTU at Landau is reassessing its international activities, aiming at fewer but stronger partnerships. The German State of Rhineland-Palatinate restructured its public universities in 2023 and Campus Landau was merged with Campus Kaiserslautern to form the State’s only University of Technology. It is now the sole university of the State’s southern Palatinate (Pfalz) region and it has a clear regional mandate, too. It is imperative for RPTU to learn more about UB’s areas of expertise and interests to develop a stronger partnership on equal terms.

The long cooperation between both universities has been very beneficial for students and staff involved on both sides. Thus, a continuation and even expansion of the partnership would be very valuable. To renew the partnership, an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at UB during the present visit. A complementary exchange agreement will be signed at RPTU when a delegation from UB will visit RPTU in September 2024.

(Based on a report by Dr. Christian Dorsch, International Affairs Office, RPTU in Landau)