The continued existence and growth of ABM University College has been greatly compromised by government’s decision to cut down on the number of students who are sponsored to the institution.
This emerged recently in Francistown when the Director of Institutional and Effective Planning at the college, Professor Amos Thapisa, cautioned that government’s decision to curtail the number of sponsored students from 1050 in 2007 to 201 this year will greatly affect the future prospects of the college.
“This is a very devastating blow because the decision was taken while the institution was embarking on an infrastructural growth plan that will tax the company’s resources,” he said.
He, however, revealed that they still have a few blessings to count despite the hardships that they are going through. For example, the four storey academic block which the institution is coming up with in block 7 is near completion.
Thapisa pleaded with government to improve the level of teacher training, especially at tertiary institutions, to be able to achieve the vision 2016 pillar of an educated and informed nation.
“We are still reliant on expatriate employees, who are also thin on the ground, in the areas of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Travel, Tourism and Hospitality, Financial Management, Accountancy, Construction Engineering and Medicine,” he said.
Thapisa also added that their strategic plan, as ABM University of entrepreneurship and business leadership, is to focus on entrepreneurial courses by 2013.
The Public Relations Officer of ABM University, Kefilwe Mukokomani, told The Sunday Standard in an interview that the institution is set to experience phenomenal growth despite government’s cut down. She further illustrated that as ABM they want to offer relevant and quality education so that they can produce graduates who will be competitive in the global job markets.
ABM is a citizen-owned institution whose main objective is to give relevant and quality education to the nation at large.
