STILL NO NEW SWAZILAND UNIVERSITY

Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe it’s a campaign, but the Times of Swaziland published two letters from readers on the same day praising Limkokwing University and pleading for it to open up a campus in Swaziland.

Limkokwing is a private university based in Malaysia that is expanding rapidly across the world.

The university has an on-off, on-off relationship with Swaziland and has been promising to set up in the kingdom for a couple of years now. But every time it sets a deadline the date comes and goes, but no university appears.

The latest deadline (missed again) was next month (February 2010).

But now the Swaziland Minister of Education and Training Wilson Ntshangase has confirmed Limkokwing will not be opening in Swaziland any time soon

‘There are a lot of issues that we still have to iron out before they can open. Furthermore, these guys are now making ridiculous demands which they did not make when they first came here. For instance, they now want us to pay scholarships for 1000 students for ten years! They also want to be exempted from paying tax and not be required to pay rentals for the premises they want to occupy,’ he told the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III.

Limkokwing has a controversial history of global expansion. When it went into Botswana in 2007 it was beset with complaints about the poor quality of teaching and concerns over whether it was good enough to be called a ‘university’.

It originally promised to set up in Swaziland if the Swazi Government put forward E3million (about 430,000 US dollars) to pay the scholarship of students.

That money has not been paid, so – unsurprisingly since Limkokwing is a business and not a charity (as many private universities are) – no campus has yet opened. When the Weekend Observer visited the site of the proposed campus in Mbabane, Swaziland’s capital, it found, ‘The entire premises are so terribly bushy and resemble an abandoned zoo’.

Swaziland has only one university, the state-run University of Swaziland which has King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, as Chancellor. One of his (many) half-brothers Prince Phinda is chair of the governing council.

For many years there have been doubts about whether the kingdom which has a population of one million people, 70 percent of whom live in abject poverty, earning less than one US dollar a day, can afford a university.

Personally, I don’t think it can so there’s no chance that the Swazi Government can come up with scholarships for Limkokwing. Only this month the Swazi Government forced budget cuts of 14 percent on all departments in an effort to stave off a financial meltdown in the kingdom.

Even if the money was available, I don’t think Limkokwing is the answer to Swaziland’s need for highly educated people as its credentials as an institution of high learning are in doubt.

Recently the university advertised for lecturing staff to teach at the 30 universities it says it will set up across the world ‘over the next few years’. Potential staff were required to have at least a bachelor degree and some teaching experience. Hardly the qualifications usually expected of a university lecturer.

NO NEW UNIVERSITY FOR SWAZILAND

It comes as no surprise to hear that the private Limkokwing University isn’t going to open in Swaziland any time soon.

Limkokwing was due to open last month (January 2009) but it hasn’t been given permission to occupy its premises in Mbabane and government scholarships for students have not been forthcoming. As I wrote in November 2008 it’s almost impossible to get anything done in Swaziland and the bureaucracy is so entrenched that any kind of initiative is stifled at an early stage.

It’s a pity that another university isn’t starting up to rival the kingdom’s only existing university, the state-run University of Swaziland (UNISWA).

There are huge doubts about the quality of education available at UNISWA and it is not clear what the purpose of the university is. This became clear again this week when students in the Humanities Faculty demonstrated against a decision by the university to limit the number of graduates with Humanities degrees who would be allowed to extend their education by studying for teaching certificates.

In Swaziland, where King Mswati III (the Chancellor of UNISWA) told graduates they should go abroad for jobs because none were available for them in Swaziland, it is almost impossible to get a job with a Humanities degree, except as a school teacher. Work it out for yourself: what job opportunities are there in Swaziland for someone who has studied history, English Literature, African Studies or Christianity?

The decision to limit the number of places was taken by the UNISWA administration without consultation with students. This is entirely typical of how it works at UNISWA where the administration makes its decision and everyone else - staff and students – have to live with it. Students protested this week and riot police were called in, damage was caused to some university property and the university was closed indefinitely.

The UNISWA administration never learns. Throughout 2007 and 2008 there were student protests against the introduction of a semesterised system for programmes. After many class boycotts and closures, the law courts ruled that the UNISWA administration was wrong not to have consulted with students and it was forced to postpone semesterisation pending discussions with its own students.

You could say UNISWA followed the letter of the law but not the spirit. As the latest protests show, the administration at UNISWA is clearly incapable of discussing anything with students in an open and transparent way.

I suppose the present dispute will end eventually after much disruption to the students’ education, but it won’t be long before the administration causes another upset over something else and the whole sorry saga of protest will start all over again.

MORE DOUBTS OVER SWAZI UNIVERSITY

By a coincidence of timing just as I was reporting that Swaziland’s first private university would not open next month as planned comes an announcement that it will start up in July 2009.

Limkokwing, with headquarters in Malaysia, is a ‘private’ university (that is one not funded by government) that has been rapidly expanding across the world in recent years and now has campuses in London, Cyberjaya, Kuching, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, New York, Lesotho and Botswana. Unlike many private universities which run as charities, this one intends to be profit-making.

The Swazi Observer reported on Thursday (29 January 2009) Pat Muir, Principal Secretary at the Swaziland Ministry of Education and Training, saying the university will open in July.

Limkokwing is to be located at the former Swaziland Institute of Management and Public Administrations (SIMPA) premises at Sidvwashini in the outskirts of Mbabane City.

The university had previously requested the Swazi Government to secure 1,000 scholarships for students to study within the institution and Muir had stated that government would have to pay about E3 million for this.

I have my doubts about the financial viability of a new university in Swaziland, because the kingdom is too poor to support one. This week students from the kingdom’s only university, the state-controlled University of Swaziland boycotted classes to petition the government for higher personal allowances.

There are doubts whether Swaziland, which has a population of only one million people, with 70 per cent of them earning less than one US dollar a day, can afford to run a university.

Budgets are tight in Swaziland and only this week there were protests about the government failing to meet its constitutional obligation to provide free primary school education for all children.

Limkokwing has faced controversy in the past. I reported on Wednesday that Limkokwing in Botswana had been heavily criticised for the poor quality of teaching amid doubts that courses taught at the university are accredited by any official organisation.

Doubts about Limkokwing have surfaced elsewhere. In January 2008 a news service run by the Association of Commonwealth Universities for university vice chancellors said of Limkokwing, ‘There are some obvious questions: how can it sustain such a rapid expansion and still maintain quality? Where will it find the multi-talented academic staff needed to support all its overseas ventures? Can it provide the same industrial links and placements to students in its overseas campuses – particularly in countries such as Lesotho where there is little large scale industry?’

The future of Limkokwing in Swaziland might not be bright. Without government support it is difficult to see how it will be able to attract fee paying students. We don’t have long to wait for the answers. The annual Swaziland budget is expected to be announced in February, so we will soon see how committed the Swaziland Government really is to the Limkokwing project.