Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Botswana Minister of Education calls for OA to publicly-funded research

Chandapiwa Baputaki, Batswana must own knowledge-based products-Nkate, Mmegi, November 21, 2007.  Excerpt:

...Jacob Nkate [Boswana Minister of Education] was giving a keynote address at the 'Open Access' leadership summit of the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) at the University of Botswana (UB)....

He told the vice-chancellors that it is important for Africa to generate new knowledge and contribute to internationally knowledge-based development and innovation....

Nkate further stated that whilst the post-colonial concerns were about becoming more competent, it is now more important than ever that Africans become increasingly skilled in their own knowledge production, be active creators and contributors to international thinking and decision-making rather than be on the receiving end....

He stated that limited access to publicly-funded scientific research resulting from the traditional models and roots of disseminating this research is no longer tenable in the African environment.

He pointed out that there is a widening gap in research output and consumption relative to the rest of the world. "Open access approaches and models promote universal unrestricted free access to full-text scholarly materials and scientific research via the Internet which in turn accelerates knowledge transfer," he said, adding that public good requires the removal of prevention barriers to this research and its publication....

The meeting, under the theme, "The challenges of open access and scholarly communication" is scheduled to end today.

PS:  The meeting is the SARUA Open Access Leadership Summit, Gaborone, Botswana, November 20-21, 2007.