Course Set for Extended Exchange with Botswana
When the English Department of the University of Botswana (UB) and the English Department of the University of Landau (RPTU) started a cooperation in 2005 with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), no one could have imagined that it would become a 19-year success story. In September, the largest university in the landlocked country on the Okavango Delta and the RPTU in Landau signed a new exchange agreement. The two partners had already renewed their cooperation agreement in June during the visit of a German delegation to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana and home of the UB. In the future, the exchange is to be extended to other subjects and research areas.
With the renewal of the agreements, the RPTU in Landau can once again submit applications for funding to collaborate with the UB. This heralds the next step in this successful partnership, in which both universities strongly believe, as David Norris, UB's Vice Chancellor, and Gabriele E. Schaumann, RPTU's Co-President, confirmed at the signing ceremony. “Such a long duration for a single exchange partnership in the humanities, with 120 people involved so far and a continuous funding volume of almost 500,000 euros, is exceptional," explains Christian Dorsch from the International Affairs Office. The strong bond of friendship that has grown between Landau and Gaborone over the years is also supported by the fact that it has not been damaged by the restrictions caused by the Corona pandemic and continues to flourish even after the initiators retired, thanks to new, committed coordinators.
"The times are gone when students were only interested in England, Australia or the USA as English-speaking countries, and Anglophone countries in Africa are prominent topics in the English classes at German schools now," says Frank Polzenhagen, Professor of English Linguistics at RPTU and coordinator of the program with UB. The exchange with Southern Africa is an answer to this demand and prepares teacher students for it. "We have already been able to equip more than 40 teachers with this special experience for their classes." Fellow coordinator Professor Mompoloki Bagwasi shares Polzenhagen's enthusiasm for the exchange program. In her department, there is a real competition among lecturers to have the German students in their seminars. "They always bring a breath of fresh air to the classroom," she says. And the students from Botswana continue to bring fresh ideas to the classroom when they return.
During their week-long visit to Landau and Kaiserslautern, the eight-member UB delegation met with various departments at RPTU in Landau and Kaiserslautern and explored opportunities for research collaboration. "We find the intersection of social and educational sciences with technical issues exciting," said UB Vice Chancellor Norris. Technological innovation includes social innovation. "Our government expects us as a university to contribute to society," Norris continues. He sees great potential for exciting collaborative projects.
The University of Botswana was established as an independent institution in 1982. Its main campus is located in the capital Gaborone, with additional campuses in Francistown and Maun. UB has played a formative role in the development of the education system in Botswana, which has only been independent since 1966. Originally, teacher training was one of its core missions. Today, it is a full-fledged university, and, with about 16,000 students and almost 2,700 staff, it is comparable in size to RPTU. Unlike RPTU, UB also has a university hospital. A delegation from the RPTU, led by Co-President Gabriele Schaumann, could get an impression of the wide array of subjects offered at UB. During this visit at the end of June 2024, the renewed Memorandum of Understanding was signed.