CRY FOR OUR BELOVED UNIVERSITY

Education is a major driving force of development in any modern society.

Quality education equips young people with knowledge and necessary skills and it also helps them develop positive values, ideas and morals so that they are ready to take the responsibilities and challenges of adulthood. It further plays a vital role in promoting the intellectual, social, economic, cultural, religious, spiritual and political development. The ability of a nation to sustain this process is key to its development, economic prosperity and the wellbeing of its citizens.

Scholarship Bill

I listened with interest at the chairman of the Finance Portfolio Committee Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo explain the new Bill on government sponsorships. The proposal has great merits in that it will open the funding to all without budget limitations. However, as things stand, our university qualifications are at serious risk of not being taken seriously in the marketplace. If we now say commercial banks must give scholarships based on the marketability of the qualifications, we could have a problem. Banks are capitalist by nature. This means that whatever they do is driven by profit. If, for some reason, the qualification of one or the other student is not commercially viable at the time, but is required by society as a social service, then the bank might not be too excited to sponsor.

The questions we must ask ourselves as emaSwati are two: 1) Are we ready to hand the destiny of our children to the whims of the market capitalist forces? 2) Are our tertiary institutions equipped to provide the services the market wants? If we decide to go this route, we must know that there will be no room for innovation, thinking out of the box but we will need our institutions to offer courses that are tried and tested by the market. If a prospective student has a passion to acquire a skill that is not employable in Eswatini, he or she might have a problem convincing the bank even if the ministry has approved it. I have a fundamental problem with commercializing scholarships and the education of our children. Banks tend to look at the background of the applicant and will be inclined to look more favourably to the child with well-off parents to secure themselves.

Tertiary institutions state a concern

While going through local newspapers, my attention was drawn to one of my sisters, Mnguni Joy Ndwandwe, who was standing next to one of the University of Eswatini buildings. She was pointing, with disappointment, at one of the walls that were in a terrible state of neglect. The paint was peeling off, the steel railing fire escape was totally rusted, indicating that the building had not been maintained in many years. She was appealing to the university alumni, who now represent some of the most successful members of society throughout Southern Africa. The stagnation of its exterior may be a reflection of the degradation of ratings as a university. The University of Eswatini (UNESWA) has not progressed over many decades. The only notable improvement is the new Kuwait sponsored Sports Emporium, otherwise the university has not changed.

One would tend to compare our development with our two sister countries, Botswana and Lesotho. It is particularly relevant with regard to the universities because we once shared a single university known as Boleswa. I have had the opportunity to study at the University of Botswana and at UNESWA. I must admit that it was some decades ago, however, I have had the opportunity to revisit all three universities in recent times. My observation was that our university has fallen way behind in every way possible. It was exciting to see Roma, the University of Lesotho, looking beautiful with its soft stone buildings. In my view Roma is the most beautiful of all three sister universities in terms of design and style, regardless of its small size and lower ranking . However, the University of Botswana has advanced way beyond all three universities in terms of academic offerings relevant to morden demands of a developing nation seeking first world status.

University rankings

UNESWA ranked  4 228th of 14 131 in the Global World 2023 ratings, 125th of 1 104 in Africa and scored in 18 research topics. The UNESWA ranking is based on three factors: Research output (Edu Rank’s index has 984 academic publications and 12 553 citations attributed to the university), non-academic reputation and the impact of eight notable alumni. The University of Botswana ranked 1 761 in the Global World 2023 overall rankings and 31 of 1 104 in Africa. Roma ranked 4 691 in the Global World 2023 overall rankings and 147 in Africa. We are ahead of the Roma, the University of Lesotho, but I am afraid we will drop dramatically in the next few years given the ongoing situation within the country.

Universities in service of nation

There is a crisis of confidence in the role that our university should play in our society. The ongoing process of transforming universities around the world testifies to the enduring seriousness of the questions of meaning and purpose that the academia faces. The response to this situation is lacking in terms of transformation programmes that focus on the social role of the university, that is, on the meaning of the university as a social institution whose purpose is to meet the needs of society. In this framework, reformers see the crisis of university education as part of a ‘national’ crisis evident in the social needs of society and the weakening position of commerce and business in global economic competition.

Universities around the world have often reflected the political and social mood of that society. Students are first to react to any form of political discourse. They must be allowed to do so because, for the first time, they are able to freely express themselves. However, some problems can be easily solved such that they have no reason to strike. Why is there a need to delay the allowances every year? The political will must be in place and all problems will be solved. EmaSwati need to first decide on the political direction that they wish to take, and the university will than assist in the realization of that dream. Unfortunately, if the university is perceived as against the national dream, then we see a drop in government’s support for the institution. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com

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