Limkokwing University has dismissed as mere speculation allegations that it is threatened with closure owing to several reasons, among them reduction of sponsorship by government of students in private institutions.
┬á“It is true that the University enrolled a reduced number of students from government sponsorship (approximately 400) in the previous cycle,” the institution’s Public Relations Manager Mercy Bonnie Thebe said. “The decline in provision of students by government is not only peculiar to Limkokwing University but has also affected other tertiary institution providers.”
 Thebe said that the Ministry of Education, at the start of the current financial year, had on repeatedly made statements through print and electronic media explaining its plans of reducing the number of students sponsored for tertiary education. This, she said, was not due to serious budget constraints and not as alleged because of a strained relationship between the University and the Ministry.
┬á“Again and for the record, the number of students under government sponsorship allocated to Limkokwing by the Ministry of Education was higher than that allocated to other Private Tertiary Institutions for the same placement cycle,” she said.┬á
In addition to Thebe’s statement made to the press, the University held its open day on Thursday, which was meant, among others, to showcase the University to the public at large and future students.
Limkokwing University Vice President Corporate and Industry Relations, Mosoma Kgotla, said: “According to the Tertiary Education Council Annual report for the period 2009/10, Limkokwing University’s enrolment accounts for 22 percent of the total local tertiary institutions enrolment, coming second after the University of Botswana with 34 percent.”
 
Kgotla further stated: “According to the same report, Local Private Tertiary Institutions enrolment make up 41 percent of the total local tertiary enrolment. Of this figure Limkokwing constitutes 54 percent. For us here, this represents a very significant achievement and an impact on the tertiary education landscape in Botswana given that the institution is still to clock the 4th year of its operation in the country.”
┬áThebe said the resignation of one of the University’s employees in Malaysia, Professor Dato Nazarudin Abdul Jalil, is unjustifiable and is only intended to scare Batswana who are studying and employed by the University.
She also rebutted allegations that one of the students, a whistleblower at the University, was at any time expelled from school.
