A Study On Curriculum Provision Of The Universities And Colleges In Botswana

In the context of current curriculum reform in colleges and universities in China, the importance of studying curriculum provision catches more and more attention. As a developing country as China, the experiences and lessons of curriculum provision in colleges and universities in Botswana is well worth thinking.This thesis mainly studies the curriculum provision of colleges and universities in Botswana by document research, historical research and comparative studies. Firstly, the thesis combs the evolution of curriculum provision of colleges and universities in Botswana. Furthermore, the thesis deeply analyzes the status and features of the structure, content and the implementation and assessment of curriculum provision in public and private higher institutions in Botswana. As well as, the thesis further discusses the new development of curriculum provision in colleges and universities in Botswana.Followings are major research results:According to the development history of colleges and universities, curriculum provision of colleges and universities in Botswana can be divided into four stages:as for Pius XII College period, from1945to1964, religious leading are the main character; as for the united university period, from1964to1982, national cooperative to run a university are the main character; as for the gradual development of colleges and universities period, from1982to2006, building colleges are the main character; and as for the great development of colleges and universities period, from2006to present, market-oriented are the main character. The status and features of curriculum provision in public higher institutions, as for the curriculum objectives, it is committed to developing comprehensive and international students; as for the curriculum structure, most public higher institutions fail to implement general courses, set more core courses but also increase optional courses, as well as make the practical and theoretical courses combined; as for the curriculum content, it emphasis on basic theoretical, interdisciplinary, internationalization and localization courses; as for the curriculum implementation and assessment, flexible and diverse forms are main features. Different from public institutions, the status and features of curriculum provision in private higher institutions, as for the curriculum objectives, it focused on training people with employment and meet the needs of market; as for the curriculum structure, most private higher institutions attach importance to the specialized courses but ignore the general courses, set more core courses but less optional courses; as for the curriculum content, curriculum internationalization and professionalization have made a fine progress; as for the form of curriculum implementation and assessment, it is single. As for the new development of curriculum provision, higher institutions in Botswana develop enterprise education curriculum, emphasize on technical education and vocational training courses, implement the HIV/AIDS courses, and tend to set information technology courses.Finally, As for the summary and thinking of curriculum provision, higher institutions in Botswana should enhance capacity-building and develop courses based on local knowledge in dealing with the education mode of "Westernization" and "Localization". In attention, higher institutions in Botswana should take into account the needs of humanities education and vocational education in training objectives, and maintain balanced relationship with the world of work. Finally, in terms of proving curriculum resources for new courses, the higher institutions in Botswana should explore curriculum resources inside and outside colleges according to the actual situation in various regions and each college.From the summary and thinking of curriculum provision of higher institutions in Botswana, looking back China higher institutions, we maybe get some enlightenment. Firstly, as for the issues of curriculum internationalization and localization, higher institutions in China should fully tap the essence of culture and form a idea of curriculum reform and university curriculum culture of rich national culture features. Secondly, as for the issues of general education courses, higher institutions in China should deepen the reform of general education, enhance the meaning and depth of general education courses, return to authentic and lay a foundation for lifelong learning. Thirdly, as for the ratio issues of compulsory and option courses, higher institutions in China should pay attention to the link between compulsory and option courses and ensure the integrity of the knowledge and relative stability in additional option courses at the same time. Finally, as for the ratio issues of theoretical and practical courses, higher institutions in China should ensure that our students have both the depth of theory and the breadth of practice.