Botswana like many countries around the
world has pinned its hopes on using tertiary
education and training as one of the critical
vehicles of transforming its economy and
society.
Accordingly, since independence in 1966,
Botswana has invested heavily on educating
its citizens at tertiary education and training
level. Spending an average of 4.5% of its
Gross Domestic Product annually, the country
is among the world’s leading spenders on
education. The Government has spent
millions of dollars sending its young people in
large numbers to study in diverse countries
such as South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria,
Malaysia, China, Australia, Canada, United
States, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia
and many others. However, considering the
high costs involved in these external
placements and in light of growing demands
for tertiary education among citizens as well
as projected decline in revenue, the
Government has since mid-2000s started to
search for alternative measures to continue
training at reduced cost.