Programmes

MPhil/PhD in Natural Resources Management

Introduction

The Okavango Research Institute offers a multi-disciplinary MPhil/PhD programme in Natural Resources Management. Okavango Research Institutes is a dynamic academic research institute of the University of Botswana initiates, coordinate and conducts research that promotes effective natural resources management, environmental management and environmental monitoring. The programme is offered on full and part time basis through minimal course work and research leading to a thesis/dissertation. The graduate programme offers students the opportunity to carry out a natural science or social science research-based higher degree in the unique environment of the Okavango and Kalahari regions.

Since inception in 2008, the MPhil/PhD programme has attracted over 40 students, enrolled for MPhil and PhD from the SADC region. The students come from government, private sector, NGOs, universities and other sectors of the society.

General Objective

To produce graduate students with detailed knowledge and understanding of sustainable natural resource management especially of wetlands

Specific Objectives

  • To enhance the capacity of Batswana graduate students to be better placed to effect natural resource management, especially in the context of river basins.
  • To provide a regional facility to train graduate students from the SADC region including the Okavango river basin to better inform partners with respect to joint natural resource management within southern Africa.
  • To provide a focus for training in association with international partners in areas of both wetland and dryland science informing natural resources management throughout Botswana

Programme Overview

The graduate programme provide the candidate with an enhanced research experience.  Students conduct independent research, showing sound scholarship and constituting a substantial original contribution to the advancement of knowledge in a particular aspect of natural resources management science.  The candidate is expected to have mastered advanced techniques in collecting, analysing and interpreting significant data sets, and should  demonstrate wide knowledge and depth of understanding of literature in the field of study; develop a capacity for critical appraisal of existing facts, ideas and theories and be capable of producing an advanced treatise through the analysis and synthesis of the relevant data, concepts and theories.

Scope

The graduate programme is offered within the scope of  the Okavango Research Institute’s five (5) Research Programmes. These are:

  • Ecosystem Dynamics
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Water Resources Management
  • Sustainable Tourism, and
  • Climate Change

Duration

Full-time

  • MPhil: A minimum of 2 semesters and a maximum of 6 semesters
  • PhD: A minimum of 6 semesters and a maximum of 8 semesters

Part-time

  • MPhil: A minimum of 4 semesters and a maximum of 12 semesters.
  • PhD: A minimum of 8 semesters and a maximum of 16 semesters

Credits

  • MPhil:   24
  • PhD:   72

Admission Requirements

MPhil

  • GPA: Minimum 3.5 on a 5-point scale from a recognized University/Institution

MPhil/PhD

  • Masters with course work only

PhD

  • Masters with course work and research

In pursuit of academic excellence