The University of Botswana (UB) is in the process of retrenching staff, The Midweek Sun has established. UB employees were given communication on Tuesday that shows that the University is embarking on an organisational restructuring exercise to identify and inform the needed positions, as well as the redundancies.

“You are hereby notified of the possible redundancy of some positions which may in turn lead to possible retrenchments, transfers and redeployment across all cadres within the current University operational structure,” an email sent to staff reads.

The University went on to explain that the changes are necessitated by the need to transform into a High Performance Organisation (HPO), a decision that the UB Council approved in October

this year.

When reached, the University’s Public Relations Office was unable to provide a response on the matter at press time Tuesday afternoon, stating that it can only respond to the matter the next working day (Wednesday).

Meanwhile, affected lecturers hinted to this publication that what they have gathered in alleys and corridors is that departments such as Mathematics and Statistics are likely to be merged.

Some courses will also be scrapped off because of duplications.

Fear has gripped many departments as lecturers wonder whether they will become casualties of the restructuring exercise.

Concerned lecturers also said that the University has allegedly taken a decision that minimum qualification for lecturing is now a PhD, meaning that all those without such qualifications may be shown the exit door.