Abueng Mambisana is at her work desk promptly a little before the 7am starting time. On most mornings, the beaming face would belie the previous night’s lack of sleep. This has been a way of life for some years now ÔÇô a little price to pay to attain bigger goals.
This year, Mambisana completed a Bachelor of Accounting qualification at University of Botswana (UB), as a self-sponsored part-time student. When she graduates in October, it will cap a period of nights of study and assignments ÔÇô sometimes napping for just two hours before getting up to be ready for work ÔÇô and weekends in lecture theatres.
“I haven’t been to weddings and parties in a long time,” she quips ÔÇô an allusion to the arrangement at UB where part-time classes are assigned Saturdays and Sundays.
She took the rather long route to this qualification because her secondary school final results did not meet the entry requirements for a degree programme. After nursing her disappointment for a while, she sponsored herself for a Diploma in Accounting and Business Studies, which she passed with a distinction. That paved the way to the degree programme. She is now weighing whether to go the route of a Master’s or CIMA.
Lediretse Molake’s first degree is in civil engineering. After working for three years, and setting up his own consultancy, he decided to enrol for a law degree. Like Mambisana, he financed his law studies at UB. From his Gaborone office, he now runs two very distinct businesses ÔÇô an engineering consultancy and a legal practice.
“I go for site visits as an engineer, and then appear in court as a lawyer,” he says playfully, yet factually.
For Molake, the decision to acquire a law qualification was borne out of fascination that came from legendary stories he used to hear while growing up; of people who had various degrees in different fields. When he entered law school, he found that the foundation of engineering studies had equipped him with research skills, which was an advantage, especially when researching case law.
Molake’s two qualifications reinforce each other ÔÇô he is a better lawyer for his engineering background and somewhere in engineering work, his understanding of law often comes handy. In court, he is at par with expert witnesses who have a science background, and he cross-examines them from position of knowledge of the subject matter. When doing engineering work, his grounding in law serves him well in contract principles.
He has toyed with the idea of going back to the classroom ÔÇô this time for a master’s, and he is attracted to the Master’s programme in Strategic Management at Botswana Accountancy College. Even though Molake has not engaged in formal studies since acquiring his legal qualification, he points out that the process to acquire knowledge has never stopped.
Molake and Mambisana belong to a tribe that cuts across age, gender, race, religion, and geographic location ÔÇô the lifelong learners. They do it for different reasons; from career advancement, personal growth, to self-actualisation.
Workplaces and education and training providers (ETPs) are responding to this rising phenomenon. More companies now make it easier for employees to study without having to leave their jobs, while ETPs are devising modes of study that enable learners to study without having to leave both town and work. Some workplaces have become training places in themselves. In Mambisana’s case, her employer ÔÇô a private secondary school where she works as a bursar ÔÇô would give her a two-week paid leave during the exam period, a gesture she is grateful for.
A human resources consultant, Shameela Winston, herself a lifelong learner ÔÇô an industrial psychologist, who taught herself how to bake cakes so well that she now has a cake business, and is currently studying law with the University of South Africa ÔÇô says while an employer might play a role by making it easier for someone to continuously acquire new skills, it really boils down to self-motivation.
She points out that employers constantly seek to attract and retain talent, as seen through the investment that corporations that take a long-term view put into cultivating enabling environments, more now than ever, for employees to continuously self-improve and acquire new skills. An emerging pattern is of a partnership ÔÇô an employee with new and improved competencies progresses to better roles within the organisation. She says lifelong learning allows one to develop a set of competencies that can be packaged and transferred across roles.
“Your degree is just a sign that you passed some exams a while back; it might not be quite relevant now,” she says. “You have to constantly maintain employability by acquiring new sets of skills that are relevant to today’s environment?”
This is the point that is buttressed by last year’s report of the World Economic Forum ÔÇô The Future of Jobs ÔÇô which observes that there is a disruption, mainly driven by technology and other factors, that is transforming industries and business models. In the process, there is a change in the skills that employers need, while the shelf-life of employees’ existing skill sets is shortened.
“Technological trends are bringing about unprecedented rate of change in the core curriculum content of many academic fields, with nearly 50% of subject knowledge acquired during the first year of a four-year technical degree outdated by the time students graduate,” the report says.
UNESCO’s Education Strategy 2014 ÔÇô 2021, makes the same argument; that if education is to respond effectively to challenges posed by the rapid and constant changes which characterise the 21st century and its development, learning will have to take place throughout an individual’s life. In view of the changed dynamics, UNESCO says there is need for integrated national qualification frameworks and mechanism for recognition of the outcomes of non-formal and informal learning.
The need to always search for new knowledge and skills is a point that Abel Modungwa, CEO of Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA), underscores as well.
“If you are a teacher or lecturer, lifelong learning is even more crucial,” he says. “Some of us may have gone through teachers who had notes that lasted 15 years or more. Today, your notes should change every night because of the nature of the environment we find ourselves in; things are moving fast.”
Part of the mandate of Modungwa’s organisation to provide for and maintain an overarching National Credit and Qualifications Framework (NCQF) that binds together the nation’s entire education system; from early childhood education through to PhD level, as well as lifelong learning ÔÇô more in line with the UNESCO strategy document.
“Organisations that are serious about competitiveness are always on the lookout for how else they can do better,” Says Modungwa. “It is also a reality that companies that are successful have highly skilled people, who improve their skills on an ongoing basis. So, lifelong learning would take our economy very far.”
So what is the price that comes with this pursuit?
Mambisana says it calls for prioritisation. She has to fit in being a mother to her primary school-going son; such as making time to assist him with his homework, sign it off, and generally give him attention. Then there is financial cost itself ÔÇô education does not come cheap. She has had to put off certain comforts and indulgences because there just isn’t enough money for that.
“You can get anything you want if you are intent on getting it,” says Molake. “It’s an individual’s choice. You can study and earn a living at the same time, unlike in the past where the structure was to study first and then earn a living. These days there are so many paths (to education and training). Acquisition of education and skills is no longer confined to brick and mortar structures. For instance, I don’t see a reason why someone with a Form 5 certificate cannot acquire a degree. The question of being duped into fake qualifications should not even arise because bodies such as BQA have readily available information on accredited institutions.”
Ultimately, the UNESCO strategy document argues, to ensure that lifelong learning becomes a reality for all requires a holistic, sector-wide approach in which the entire education system is designed to facilitate lifelong learning, and the creation of formal, non-formal and informal learning opportunities for people of all ages.
