Ukwanda Rural Clinic School

While wrapping up to go to BIUST I paid a visit to the Ukwanda Rural Clinic School on the Worcester campus  of Stellenbosch University (SU) (http://blogs.sun.ac.za/ukwanda/ukwanda-rural-clinical-school/). This came about after a conversation with SU’s Pieter Kloppers. Pieter and I chatted about how developing countries are investing a lot of resources into educating young people who end up leaving the country to work in more developed nations. Since this is one of issues I think I will have to deal with at BIUST, where the research needs to be applicable to Botswana’s challenges, but of an international standard in order to provide the best possible education to the students. 

Ukwanda Rural Clinic School
credit http://www.summo.org/#/presentationsandmeetings/

Pieter directed me to Prof Wynand van der Merwe (former Dean of Medicine at SU) who in turn directed me to Dr Frans Krige, head of Ukwanda.  Ukwanda was established to address South Africa’s need for doctors in rural areas.  Doctors in these areas have to work independently, does not necessarily have access to advance diagnostic equipment and have to deal with a broad range of patients in an isolated environment. The research leading up to the establishment found that thriving rural doctors not only usually come from a rural area, but also have to be exposed to rural medicine during their training. Thus the clinic was established in Worcester, a town about 100 km from Cape Town and whose provincial hospital serves a wide rural area (from Hermanus to Ceres). The clinic accommodates medical and allied health students and seems to be a great success.

It is attractive to students since the groups are smaller and thus more personal attention can be given.  Bursaries are also provided to students as well as also luxury student accommodation on site which is also very close to the provincial hospital where clinical duties are performed. Furthermore, there is better coordination between departments since personnel literally share the same office. However, students are screened for psychological issues that might impact their performance since it is a higher stress environment with emphasis on learning quickly and working independently.  

During a recent visit from the National Council of Provinces the delegation was very impressed with the results achieved there. Dr Krige ascribes Ukwanda’s success to the fact that they had high level support, a clear objective and a need to be innovative while adhering to established best practices. Despite BIUST not having a medical school I think the model can serve as a handy reference point on how to train students for developing African countries’ needs in such a way that the training is not “wasted” on students who will be immediately lost to the overseas job market. Which brings me nicely to my next topic of training students for a (still) unstructured skills economy.

Ukwanda website
Guardian article re Ukwanda

Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST)

I have recently joined the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at BIUST. This is a brief introduction to the place.

The BIUST admin building

BIUST (Botswana International University of Science and Technology) is the newest addition to Botswana’s tertiary institutions. It was established in 2005 and teaching commenced in 2011 with the class of 2015 being the first graduates of BIUST. The country also has the University of Botswana in Gaborone (UB) as well as BUAN (Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources), also in Gaborone.  UB is a comprehensive university, while BIUST is focused on science and technology, with the main aim of delivering postgraduate degrees and thus has a strong research focus.

BIUST is in Palapye, which is currently still classified as a village, 260 km north of Gaborone and 160 km south of Francistown on the A1 (the main north-south highway). The closest border post to South Africa is Martin’s Drift/Groblersbrug, 110 km from Palapye, which in turn is 100 km north of Lepalale (Ellisras).

Location of Palapye.

Why Palapye? My guess it that is has something to do with the fact that it is in the area where most (if not all) of the country’s presidents are from: the Khamas (Sir Seretse and his son and current president Ian) are originally from Serowe (45 km west) while the former president and Chancellor of BIUST, Festus Mogae, is from Serowe and served as the MP for Palapye. Palapye is next to the A1, more or less halfway between the two mayor centres in Botswana.  It is also the current termination point of the NSC (North-South Carrier) water pipeline while the Morupule coal mine and power station (the only domestic power station) is just across the road. Thus Palapye has a good supply of power and water (although Palapye is currently reliant on ground water and not the NSC).  There are also other mines in the area and the expansion of the village is not inhibited by any natural features.  Judging by the four new shopping malls being built (anchored by all the mayor South African brands) it is definitely an economic growth node.  Thus BIUST is, rather disappointingly, not located in deepest darkest Africa.

Morupule A power station

Morupule B, next door to A.

But that is not the reason why I came to BIUST.  The main reason is on the one hand very simple: because they offered me a job. Of course one can always decline the position, but the challenge of coming to BIUST seemed an interesting one, which also presented lots of opportunities. But I soon realized that the advantage of coming to a newly established university is also in part the disadvantage:  not only you can initiate a lot of new things, but you also have to. I also believe South African Universities (and Universities in general) are in serious need of a rethink on various fronts, but new and creative thinking is inhibited by the established funding and governance structures and the slow turnover of academics. With no established history BIUST seemed like a good place to investigate teaching and learning in the context of a developing nation since BIUST was established to help diversify Botswana’s economy (which is mostly resourced based, but the diamonds will run out in the next couple of decades).