The Department of Broadcasting Services (DBS) and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology entered into a memorandum of understanding with a ground breaking scholarship worth over P600,000 offered to 4 employees of the department to further their studies in Malaysia.

The two institutions have enjoyed a relatively fruitful working relationship with a good number of Limkokwing graduates working at the department as interns with some fully employed. Mogomotsi Kaboeamodimo, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration appreciated the gesture as well as the talent that the institution has managed to unearth in young Batswana through their effective model of education.

The traditional way of education has been overtaken by creative and innovative approaches to learning and one which is currently transforming learners through the paces from the classroom to effective market players is applied by the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. The applied model equips students with academic excellence through real life practice allowing them to hit the ground going on their chosen career field. The university has been in Botswana since 2007 and from 2009 to date, almost 7,000 graduates have been produced for the market.

“As most of you are already aware, Limkokwing University is not just an average, traditional and conventional institution. Limkokwing come to Botswana to open some new perspective and offer a different dimension and approach in tertiary education. The University is predominantly an Art and Design school with emphasis in creativity and innovation in the teaching approaches,” the Vice President of Corporate and Industry Relations Mr Mosoma Kgotla said in his remarks at the reception lunch organized specifically for media practitioners in the country. It was at this briefing that the MoU between the DABS and Limkokwing was signed.

The institution made presentation to the attendants who came in impressive numbers from both the private and public media houses. Presentation were made on the Limkokwing Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme or LEAP for short which is a compulsory programme run by the institution to instill a feeling of real entrepreneurial skill and a full appreciation of what the industry needs. The media practitioners were also briefed on the Centre for Creative Content which is another arm of the institution offering a wide range of multimedia consumables such as public relations, brand development, retail design and music production among others.

“Our vision is to create Limkokwing University Botswana as a campus where every Motswana who walks through our doors will be able to acquire industry relevant skills to learning that emphasizes on creativity, talent development and leadership skills. Today Limkokwing University students and alumni are in a class of their own and form part of the movers and shakers in all the countries they are in, including Botswana,” the Corporate and Public Relations Associate Director Mercy Rebaone Thebe said in her Public Relations brief. Thebe further informed the attendants of the exploits of the institution at the 2011 TEC Fair as well as other community engagements such as the President Day Celebration, inaugural market day as well as the Mogonye Community Service Day.

Other briefings came from the marketing department which covered the Alumni Tracer Project which has so far discovered that from the Graduation Class of 2009, 50 per cent of the alumni have been absorbed into the market as employees and entrepreneurs while the other half is still unemployed. The figures shows light at the end of the tunnel for the institutions which was marred by controversy when it first established in Botswana with some sectors of the population arguing that it was a total waste of the government funds.