The Directorate of Pre-University Academic Programmes (PUAP) is an outreach and engagement directorate that exists for “Taking science and technology to the people. The endeavour is motivated by the reality of scarce numbers of students with interest in Mathematics and Science to be able to take-up the Science and Technology programmes that would transform Botswana into a knowledge economy which it aspires to be. The essence of creating public awareness of science is to ingeniously and deliberately present science and mathematics as inherently basic to our everyday life which every person is effortlessly living. Creating appreciation of existence of mathematics and science in most life phenomena demystifies mathematics and science and cultivates interest of learners and the general populace in the subjects and should cause a paradigm shift in the perception about mathematics and science. PUAP undertakes to create environments that promote voluntary and active but unconscious learning.
PUAP OBJECTIVES
It exists for the two fundamental objectives
- BIUST endeavors to impact directly on the lives of the people of Botswana through interaction and interface at level of the people. Through PUAP, BIUST’s impact reverberates nationally and is unlimited by geographical placement thus forestalling the ‘Ivory Tower’ phenomenon. PUAP’s activities are aimed at contributing to the socio-economic development of all districts in Botswana and PUAP is an interface through which the university, using its expert pool provides:
- Relevant academic programe offerings to communities as dictated by specific milieus.
- Continuing education and lifelong learning programes to locals and industry employees leading to full degrees or whatever levels as demanded by the environments.
- Locally directed interventions as community outreach endeavors such as ‘student role-modeling and mentoring to disadvantaged children in communities.
- PUAP provides a conduit through which the public and local industry interacts with the fountain for technical expertise to seek solutions to its technical problems in pursuit of economic advancement through STEM. Through its budget PUAP is to facilitate and coordinate participation of the university’s expert pool in community outreach and other tasks as dictated by the technical demands of the communities.
It is geared at stimulating interest in the subjects through voluntary interaction with natural phenomena that are inherently scientific thus leading to greater numbers of children (pre-tertiary levels) voluntarily and ably engaging in mathematics and science in that way creating a robust pipeline of quality mathematics and science students for BIUST and generally for tertiary education level participation. The endeavor is motivated by the reality of scarce numbers of students with interest in Mathematics and Science to be able to take-up the Science and Technology programes that would transform Botswana into a knowledge economy which it aspires to be. The concept is new in Botswana and therefore without precedence and benchmark within Botswana.
The essence of creating public awareness of science is to ingeniously and deliberately present science and mathematics as inherently basic to our everyday life which every person is effortlessly living. Creating appreciation of existence of mathematics and science in most life phenomena demystifies mathematics and science and cultivates interest of learners and the general populace in the subjects and should cause a paradigm shift in the perception about mathematics and science. PUAP undertakes to create environments that promote voluntary and active but unconscious learning through:
- Nurturing and mentoring of learners and public (in identified problem areas) through various media thus building the needed confidence. This will include in-residence (on the BIUST campus) experience; enrichment residential programes during university vacation times; live interactive participation in solving mathematics and science problems
- Establishing and conducting mobile Science Circuses that will reach out to learners throughout the country to bring about live interactive mathematics and science activities
- Development of Science movement which will enable interaction with and observation of natural and scientific phenomena (exposure, play, admiration, experimentation, utilisation etc)
- Creating mathematics and science support chain linking primary schools, secondary schools, relevant Technical College and the BIUST (Feeder Chain)
- Supporting mathematics, science and technology fairs (STEM Fairs)