University of Botswana

The University of Botswana was established in 1982 and was the country’s first institute of higher education.

However, it began life as a colonial Catholic vocational training university in 1946, before becoming a joint, cross-national higher education institution in 1966, when Botswana and Lesotho gained independence. The university became autonomous in 1982.

It has three campuses: one in Maun, one in Francistown and one in the capital city Gaborone. The university comprises eight faculties: business, education, engineering, health sciences humanities, medicine, science and social sciences. There is also the University of Botswana School of Medicine, which is the result of a collaboration with the University of Melbourne. The latter is on the main Gaborone campus and includes a 450-bed academic teaching hospital.

Many students live on campus and make use of the extensive on-campus facilities, which include one of the largest libraries in Africa, an 8,000-seater stadium with an IAAF accredited track, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, outdoor courts for tennis, volleyball, basketball, field hockey and handball, and a climate-controlled 5,000 seater multipurpose indoor sports arena, food courts and a full service post office.