GABORONE - Three professors from Akita University in Japan are in Botswana to explore chances of developing a research centre.
The delegation last week addressed a media briefing where the two universities also discussed advantageous opportunities of their partnership since October 2009.
BIUST vice chancellor Professor Kweku Bentil, said they partnered with Akita to facilitate exchange of lecturers and students, do collaborative research and for technical assistance.
Through this partnership, Prof. Bentil said they had also managed to submit a joint proposal to Japan International Cooperation Agency, requesting for funding to develop a research centre in Botswana.
When briefing the Japanese delegate about BIUST human resource, infrastructure and academic issues, Prof Bentil pointed out that deputy vice chancellor and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs had already been hired.
But by August all the deans would be hired. Our academic programmes have been developed and we have narrowed down what we are going to offer and we shall open March 2011, he said.
For his part, head of Akita university delegation, Prof Toshio Mizuta, said there was only one active mine in Japan, adding that the partnership would offer them an opportunity to have a rich research in Botswana.
We want to assist BIUST in developing its academic programmes or curriculum in mining. It is important to know what type of research is important for mining related programmes, he said.
Botswana Press Agency
