The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent to which open, and distance education universities are fulfilling their stated purpose as higher education institutions in SubSaharan countries. The starting point of understanding the purpose of an institutions is to analyse the content of mission statements and the context in which the universities…

Teacher education in Botswana is offered at various higher education institutions (HEIs). Undergraduate pre-service teachers for the secondary school level are trained at the University of Botswana (UB) and the Botswana College of Agriculture, and both HEIs offer different and autonomous teacher-training programmes. The Faculty of Education at UB…

Due to a perception that the quality of their certificates was in question, students of the Gaborone Technical College (GTC), along with their counterparts in similar institutions, went on a strike in 2016. Based on a subsequent case study of the college, completed in 2018, this article examines the quality question in technical education in…

Critical thinking is recognised as an influential attribute to achieve quality learning and teaching in higher education institutions world over. This interpretive research study explored the critical thinking among PGDE students at the University of Botswana. The aim of the study was to identify factors contributing to the application of critical…

This paper sought to investigate the extent to which selected quality factors influence e-Learning implementation, which the current body of knowledge purports to be an alternative way of leveraging the provision of support for effective teaching and learning in the new millennium. The study is a case study of Botswana College of Distance and Open…

From generation to generation time changes affecting culture and the way people live and their society as well. A change in time prompts new inventions and technologies, the twenty-first century where scientific inventions and the latest of technologies are the basis of trade. It is evident that as years go by there comes along sophistication and…

These "Proceedings" derived from the Commission for International Adult Education's (CIAE) 2018 International Pre-Conference. They contain 23 papers from 32 authors. Eight of the lead authors are graduate students -- four are rounding up their Master's degrees while four are on their doctoral programs. The rest are a mix of seasoned and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of satisfaction and perceived relevance of the Graduate Business Education (GBE) programme at the University of Botswana. Design/methodology/approach: A self-administered questionnaire and face to face interviews were used to collect data from Master of Business Administration (MBA)…

The suitability of 52 items for measuring Blackboard course management system success was investigated with the aim of validating the Blackboard CMS success scale in an educational context. Through a survey, the Blackboard course management system (BCMS) success scale was administered to 503 students at the University of Botswana. Data collected…

This paper offers a fresh look at measurement-based assessment of learning at university level. The paper draws on a rich literature that informs what quality entails for our universities. The quality assessment measurement (QAM) scale used has been designed centering on six set of competency parameters: resources, teaching and learning, research,…

Teacher mobility has become a common feature of the cross-border flows and transnational networks that constitute globalisation. International and intraregional migration of teachers is an important factor in education provision and management in countries in the Southern Africa region, for example Botswana and South Africa. In an increasingly…

African higher education is currently facing tremendous challenges. The pressure and demand for access is huge. This is understandable against the background of traditionally low participation, low success and throughput rates, declining financial contributions from governments and donors, and critical pressures for efficiency, modernization,…

The theme of this book cuts across disciplines. Contributors to this volume are specialized in education and especially classroom research as well as in linguistics, most being transdisciplinary themselves. Around 65 sub-Saharan languages figure in this volume as research objects: as means of instruction, in connection with teacher training,…

Using the Affiliations Unit of the University of Botswana as a case study, this paper explores how the operational milieu of an External Quality Assurance Agency (EQAA) impacts on its role and function. This milieu is described and selected frame factors are identified and evaluated, including the size of the country; the role of a hegemonic…

This third publication on the theme of quality in the Commonwealth of Learning Perspectives on Distance Education series widens the discussion beyond external quality assurance processes to a more generic focus on a "culture of quality." It is an extension of the earlier two publications, which came out in 1994 and 1997 and drew…