The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

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students in non-science subjects. Table 1 and Table 2 below reflect this situation in the University
of Botswana.
Table 1: Total Student Enrollment by Faculty 1997/98-2001/02
Faculty/School/Centre 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02
Business 541 589 685 820 819
Continuing Education 1598 1691 1966 2203 2036
Education 1394 1669 1879 2095 2255
Engineering & Technology 808 904 998 1157 1272
Graduate Studies 283 347 419 501 571
Humanities 1271 1393 1629 2054 2147
Science 1257 1289 1353 1337 1384
Social Sciences 1132 1083 1231 1555 1802
Total 8284 8965 10160 11722 12286
Table 2: Graduation Rate (%) by Faculty (Full-Time) 1997/98-2000/01
Faculty 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01
Business 85 76 57 81
Education 96 111 97 98
Engineering & Technology - - 89 78
Humanities 97 90 95 94
Science 39 32 34 33
Social Sciences 91 70 81 83
In this regard the region ranks lower than other parts of the developing world. In the first place,
the science system as reflected in the formal education structures, including tertiary institutions,
is weak. The weak science system translates into poor performance of students in science subjects
in comparison with their performance in other subjects. African countries therefore have a weak
base for doing basic research in the sciences, which is necessary for the development of technology.
Hence, almost all countries in the region (with the exception of South Africa) are not able to
calculate their R&D index.
There is variation across the subcontinent with formerly European areas of pre 1994 South Africa
coming at the top, while Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique are at the bottom.
Because the region was developed to provide a market for goods and services produced in South
Africa, the R&D institutions remain very few. Failure to appreciate the value of science & technology
by the post colonial governments has led to low funding levels for R&D, with the result that
the few R&D institutions are weak. Furthermore, where they do exist, they usually act like silos,
without any connectivity. They are usually not strategically aligned to form a functional national
innovation system that is prevalent in the developed world. The weak science system perpetuates
itself into a weaker innovation system. Partly because of this situation, southern African countries
have so far not been able to take advantage of their natural endowment of a rich biodiversity by
developing indigenous technology, as other parts of the developing world such as India and China
164 2005 Symposium Proceedings Book