A plum pudding without plums, this is a new one! Wait a minute, does this metaphor not fit the description of the curriculum offered by many higher education institutions in Lesotho and abroad? Nonetheless, I found an article titled: ‘Botho University Commits to Giving Basotho Quality Education’ very profound in the context of our beloved country, Lesotho. The description of Botho University (BU) by its authorities fits the saying that it offers a curriculum with a plum pudding with plums.

A plum pudding without plums, this is a new one! Wait a minute, does this metaphor not fit the description of the curriculum offered by many higher education institutions in Lesotho and abroad? Nonetheless, I found an article titled: ‘Botho University Commits to Giving Basotho Quality Education’ very profound in the context of our beloved country, Lesotho. The description of Botho University (BU) by its authorities fits the saying that it offers a curriculum with a plum pudding with plums.

While addressing BU stakeholders, Dr Ram said: “Up to 82% of employers are satisfied with Botho’s fresher graduates’ ability to work with ready skills as compared to their peers.” (SIC). BU’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (deputy principal), Professor Setume, reiterates Dr Ram’s proclamation. He indicates that many companies hire their graduates straight after they have completed their internships. So, BU offers plum pudding with plums. It teaches programmes that provide real-life experiences, making their graduates ready for work upon graduation.

I commend BU for the great work they are doing and their transparency. They take Lesotho and their clients into confidence by sharing their experiences with them. BU’s story provides the country, their client, with an opportune moment to find what is good about it. This article seeks to interpret BU’s vice chancellor and pro-vice chancellor’s comments about her institution’s continued endeavours to provide quality education.

An American author and high-performance motivator, W Clement Stone, developed the habit of saying: ‘That’s good’ when anything, good, bad or near calamity happened. He would then dig to find what was good in the event. His premise was that people may find something good in any situation.

Let me introduce the reader to what Hill calls the QQS rating. The letters in QQS stand for the ‘quality’, the ‘quantity’ and the ‘spirit’ of service rendered. The term ‘quantity’ means the habit of giving all the possible meaningful services. ‘Quality’ of service refers to its performance in the most efficient possible manner. The object here is to provide the service with efficiency. The emphasis is on the word habit. In other words, the view of BU’s students’ quality means that they perform the most possible quantity of work efficiently. The spirit of service means providing agreeable, harmonious conduct and inducing cooperation from all associates and fellow employees. Workers must display the spirit of harmony and cooperation at all times.

Meanwhile, commentators and analysts continue to find faults with the higher education system’s fitness for purpose. Graduates lament their inability to find employment. Not so long ago, school teaching was the absorber of degree holders. I argue that our programmes do not evolve with time and community requirements. An issue that phenomenon brings to the fore is what we call a ‘responsive curriculum.’

To understand the meaning of ‘responsive curriculum’, one must comprehend how a university functions. Let us remind ourselves of the core functions of a university. A university has three core functions. (a) The university must produce new knowledge through research production. It is a centre of knowledge production. According to the Council on Higher Education (CHE), research output is a neglected core function of higher education in Lesotho. Whose knowledge do these institutions teach if they do not produce knowledge? Could this omission be the cause of the unemployment of graduates in Lesotho?

(b) Universities recontextualise knowledge into a curriculum for teaching and learning. They are centres that organise knowledge into teaching and learning programmes. Teaching in universities takes place in faculties and teaching departments. However, they have to produce the research output to select the best topics and areas that would be the curriculum experiences for their students.

A handicap for transformation in any society or community is ‘conformity’. The master instigator for this handicap is the so-called ‘standards’. We compare ourselves with what we conceive to be the best practices. Conformity compromises ‘creativity’ and ‘imagination’, the ability to create new ideas. The ailment of conformity deprives countries and the world of new ideas and advancement. The sources of this deficiency are a measure called ‘standards’, ‘benchmarking’ or ‘best practices.’ The best word that we must use for this practice is ‘copycat.’

The syndrome of copycats does not end with the curriculum these institutions teach. It continues with the conduct of African or Basotho professors and doctoral graduates. After acquiring the knowledge and experience, these scholars become assimilated into the system. They conduct, behave and treat their communities and students with contempt. They make the people they serve inferior and distance themselves from the communities they must serve. The cause of this awkward behaviour of these elites is ‘conformity.’

(c) The third and last core function is community outreach. It is the contribution that universities make to communities. The Institute of Extra Mural Studies is an arm of the National University of Lesotho (NUL). NUL Innovation Centre combined community outreach, research output, patenting and intellectual property rights. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 advent revealed the dark side of government interference in academia in a country such as Lesotho.

University education must transform the communities they serve. In other words, if the research takes place in the context of the communities and institutions recontextualise knowledge, provide teaching and learning would also be in the context of the students. The context in this case is that in which students live.

Therefore, the curriculum of these students’ experiences responds to the local communities’ needs. The curriculum is responsive. Research takes place in all three core spheres of university business. Accordingly, Ameyaw and her team define responsive curriculum as the ability of curriculum developers to translate knowledge about new developments into curriculum content and structure. It addresses the changing needs of students, bridging the gap between universal knowledge and theories on one hand and contextual, continuously changing realities of everyday life and the world of work. These arguments show the need for our graduates to obtain knowledge, comprehend it and apply it in their contexts. In this way, our graduates would easily find jobs or create jobs where the need exists.

Remember, there are two commodities that people and communities buy or pay for the two commodities. These are (a) services or (b) products they need. Our graduates must identify the commodities communities need and supply the best quality of the items.

Botho University customer satisfaction is astounding. The university shows their work is not just about ‘theories’ and ‘-isms’. Botho University is not teaching its students new knowledge for their paper qualifications, degrees and social status. Hill and Stone wrote: “Too often what we read and profess becomes a part of our libraries and our vocabularies, instead of being a part of our lives.” They do not assimilate the knowledge they acquire into their lives. So, their knowledge remains in the conscious mind. Their knowledge does not empower them. Hill argues that this type of knowledge is not power. It is potential power unless organised into definite plans and directed into a definite purpose.

Dr Ram and Setume infer BU graduates can translate knowledge into their work environment. Knowledge translates into bread on the table. Others will call this employability of the graduates.
The industry absorbs its graduates on completion. That’s good! I introduce the term Work Integrated Learning (WIL) here. Lerotholi Polytechnic. WIL is a programme that links university education with workplaces in the related field.

Transferring university teaching and learning knowledge into WIL is not a simple process. WIL theorises knowledge transfer and recontextualisation as it moves in complex ways between university and workplace settings. Recontextualisation of knowledge means classifying, selecting and ordering topics from research findings into the teaching and learning through the university curriculum. WIL aims to combine theoretical learning with practice at work through a specific programme. Medicine law and teacher education degrees commonly incorporate WIL in their study programmes. Traditional universities offer some of these programmes.

WIL may provide feedback data to the institution providing students and the workplace. Scholars call this phenomenon the law of reciprocity. Reciprocity is a product of the Law of Cause and Effect. The Law of Cause and Effect decrees: ‘Whatever you send into the Universe comes back.’ The action and re-action are equal and opposite. It means that if you accept a service or something material, you must part with something of equal value back. In other words, you reap what you sow.

For example, Dr Ram states that 82% of industries gave positive data about the quality of their students. In other words, the clients (industry) evaluated the quality of their curricula. BU uses WIL to assess the quality of the industry’s services or products.

A limitation often highlighted about the traditional higher education system is the employability of their products, the graduates. Also, most companies do not only look at academic performance when they appoint new potential employees but also look at a graduate’s activity record and personality as a student. This limitation brings to question the graduateness of the products. The conversations of Dr Ram and Prof Setume confirm that BU helps their students convert classroom experiences into plans of action and implement them through WIL.

Hill argues that an educated person has so developed the faculties of their mind that they can acquire anything they want without violating the rights of others.
Traditional universities have a challenge of employability of their graduates. This limit brings to question the graduateness of the products. The fitness of their qualifications is questionable. Yet, one parameter that the Council on Higher Education (CHE) uses for approval of programmes is the market survey and employability of graduates on completion.

Hill questions the quality of university education. He points out that an educated person has so developed the faculties of their mind that they can acquire anything they want without violating the rights of others. On the other hand, the faculties and departments of universities specialise in teaching general knowledge. General knowledge has little impact on accumulating money or achievement. According to the Central Bank of Lesotho, over 4 000 university graduates were unemployed in 2014. This figure has increased over the years. All these graduates had never worked since completing their studies. Why is this the situation? The comments of the administrators of BU, as I quoted here, suggests otherwise to this institution.

According to Hill, knowledge will not attract money or success unless organised and deliberately directed through practical plans for action as a definite end. Faculties and departments classify research knowledge but do not teach students how to arrange and use knowledge after they acquire it. BU’s provision of WIL enables students to organise and use knowledge in a work situation.

Elsewhere. I spoke of this measure as the graduate attributes. Research suggests that we may understand graduateness as an attribute that graduates acquire during their university studies. We may look at graduateness about employability. You will note Dr Ram’s assertion about the readiness of Botho University’s graduates for employment. The interface between higher education and the world of work requires defining and understanding employability about graduateness. To understand graduateness, universities must establish the employer and industry requirements, needs and expectations.

In summary, I premise this article on the article in a local Nnewspaper titled: ‘Botho University commits to giving Basotho quality education’. Both leaders of BU argue that their institution provides quality education. Both agree that the world of work absorbs BU’s students soon after completion.

I introduced the numerous constructs to highlight that I use to unpack the quality these top officials refer to. BU uses Work Integrated Learning (WIL) to recontextualise its theoretical teaching into students’ practical experiences. The constructs that I used to understand the role of WIL in empowering students are: ‘conformity’, ‘graduateness’, the ‘core business of a university’, ‘responsive curriculum’, the ‘QQS’ and ‘power’ of organised knowledge. I also added the Law of Cause and Effect to the bouquet. I used the law to show the reciprocal benefit of WIL to UB and industries.

The article argues that the failure of university education is due to ‘conformity’ in the pretext of ‘standards’ and rankings. I pointed out that this pair subjugate creativity and imagination. Instead of creating an African university for Africa, we duplicated Western university education.
BU curriculum is responsive, as shown by its clients, namely industry. The evidence of this assertion is the high employability rate of BU’s graduates. The two administrators confirm the responsiveness of their curricula.

Hill contradicts the saying that knowledge is power. He specifies that knowledge is power only if graduates organise it into a definite outcome. One acquires power through highly organised and intelligently directing for a definitive purpose.

Although I did not fully explore this matter, CHE shows that BU and all other higher education institutions in Lesotho do not produce research. BU and the higher education industry must act now to address this deficiency.

In conclusion, this article shows that teaching knowledge for the sake of knowing is inadequate for preparing students for life after university studies. Universities must teach students how to organise and implement their acquired knowledge to a specific goal and act accordingly. WIL enables BU to offer plum pudding with plums, which is good!

Dr Tholang Maqutu