Commitments

The mission of the School of Graduate Studies is to be the Academic Partner of Choice for Graduate Qualifications and Exchanges and Graduate Research Project Collaboration. SGS will strive to achieve this mission by pursuing excellence in eleven areas of commitment (11Cs):

Controlling: To facilitate transparency and accountability, SGS monitors the Performance quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of its processes and programmes and provides respective information to the relevant internal and external stakeholders regularly, timely, and accurately. SGS further assures that all programme documentations and promotional material are correct, complete, and up-to-date.

Consolidation: To provide an enabling environment where informed decision can guide the quantitative and qualitative growth based on a concentration of time, effort and resources, SGS regularly provides reviews and recommendations to align its strategy and portfolio and to set the further Direction in the context of UB’s strategic priority areas.

Contribution: To assure Relevance in the national and regional context, SGS actively supports Vision 2016, national and relevant SADC policies and priorities through its projects and programmes and reflects on the respective undertakings and achievements through its reporting and promotional activities.

Capacity: To tally the growth projections of NDP10 and to enable sustainable Development, SGS engages with the relevant stakeholders to establish market needs and to support / set up advisory boards, offers demand-led and strategically important programmes, creates awareness concerning existing opportunities, and assists in recruitment processes.

Compliance: To support national development and excellence in higher education, SGS aligns its processes and programmes to fully comply with international standards and national qualification frameworks regarding qualification types, structures, and durations as well as relevant Input and Quality requirements (e.g. facilities, staff complement, rules and regulations, documentation, promotional materials).

Credibility: To assure potential students and external stakeholders of its quality programmes, SGS strives for compliance of all its Operations and Processes with renowned international accreditation requirements and quality systems and for independent audits by accreditation agencies or external peer review.

Competencies: To safeguard the interests of graduates and employing organisations, SGS sides its teaching, learning, mentoring, and assessment strategies with academic and professional learning Outcomes and standards and provides documented evidence of achievements through audits and surveys.

Champions: To further good governance and participatory Leadership, SGS encourages its constituents to engage in its decision making processes and provides opportunities for induction and development in order to advance the frontiers in all academic key performance areas (teaching, research, service, leadership).

Convenience: To serve Botswana’s citizen independent of their geographic and/or career-related status, SGS strives to organise its courses and programmes in a multitude of Delivery modes to provide flexible access which suits a wider group of students and sponsoring organisations; furthermore, SGS strives to create an enabling and productive academic environment and experience for all its students and partners to support learning and teaching.

Creativity: To stimulate excellence and high impact multidisciplinary Research, SGS emphasizes basic, applied, and action research in all disciplines, promotes co-operations between researchers and external stakeholders, and facilitates curricular activities for the relevant engagement and capacity development.

Collaboration: To create sustainable growth and momentum in national and academic Partnerships, SGS engages in collaborations and co-operations with the explicit aim to add value to the partner’s organisation and/or services (e.g. short-term intensive graduate lecture modules for incoming students, credit systems, consulting-style group projects, in-company research projects, short courses, soft skill development).