Africa-Press – Botswana. The criminal justice department of the University of Botswana (UB) has been hailed for its innovation. UB Vice Chancellor, Professor David Norris said such innovation had the potential to help transform the institution into a high-performance centre it envisaged.
Speaking at ‘The Murder Mystery Ball’ where students studying Forensic Criminology acted crime scenes, investigations and court proceedings, Prof. Norris said practical teachings should be encouraged to not only give students real-life skills, but close the gap between the institution and the industry.
“As an institution, we should move away from regurgitating information,which is a high school approach and we have to act differently,” he reiterated.
He said transforming UB into a high-performance university involved strengthening its core functions and enhancing co-creation with industry to create value, and producing a high calibre of graduates locally and globally.
Professor Norris said embracing innovation in higher education promoted critical thinking, a sense of adventure and an openness to adapt, which would serve students in and outside the classroom.
“It will provide them with the necessary tools to tackle the challenges of their future workplace and give them the confidence and skills to continue to adapt,” he said.
He said though a relatively new programme, the Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice Studies had a lot to offer, particularly in a rapidly developing economy like Botswana.
Prof. Norris said the programme provided effective education and training for those involved in law enforcement, criminal education and training for those involved in law enforcement, criminal investigations and crime prevention.
For his part, Gaborone City Mayor, Councillor Austin Abraham said even though Gaborone was quiet livable, it was not among the safest cities, according to international rankings.
He said the city continued to experience heists, robberies, murders and property crimes.
“There are also proliferation of more serious crimes like human and drug trafficking, threats of terrorism and cyber-crime that pose a serious threat to our economic prosperity,” he said.
The mayor said this therefore called for sophisticated human resources in the law enforcement industry, adding that the UB’s criminal justice department was therefore on the right path.
The coordinator of the Criminal Justice Department, Dr Lesedi Mashumba said they wanted to ensure that their graduates had the right skills for ease of absorption into the industry, hence such initiatives.
“This is just the beginning and we plan to add more to this milestone, especially that criminology fits everywhere, be at the banks, the justice system and even the police,” Dr Mashumba said. She thus urged stakeholders to absorb the graduates.
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