UB's School of Graduate Studies (SGS) has been established in 1996 with the task to coordinate all aspects of graduate student programmes, from recommendation for approval by Senate to quality management as well as from admission through graduation. With close to 1,500 graduate students currently enrolled and over 2,000 Graduates having been awarded Master, MPhil and PhD qualifications, SGS’s current programme portfolio consists of 2 Postgraduate Diplomas, 41 taught Master, and 23 research-based MPhil and 23 PhD programmes. The SGS Programme Portfolio nowadays contributes to all seven pillars of Botswana’s National Vision 2016 and its overall objective to transform Botswana into a 'knowledge society' with research and innovation the cornerstones of development.
At the end of the coming decade, UB plans to become a research-intensive university and to double its graduate student enrollments (see chart below). The main drivers of the projected growth are expected to be research programmes by departments and faculties newly engaging in MPhil/PhD qualifications, campus expansions in Maun and Francistown, and a new breed of modular graduate programmes which will enable students residential outside Gaborone to take up graduate studies and provide opportunities for national organisations wishing to strengthen staff recruitment, development, and retention by supporting the professional lifelong learning of their employees.
