Department of Funding

The Department of Funding is responsible for the development and implementation of financial systems in the tertiary education sub-sector, which enable the Country to finance an increasingly high demand for tertiary education and training. Furthermore, the department is responsible for financing skills training. The Department is responsible for managing three Funds, namely; the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF), Public Tertiary Education Institutions Fund (PTEIF) and Tertiary Education Student Sponsorship Fund (TESSF). The Department oversees these Funds in order to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable financing and foster the development of the necessary competent human resource to transit Botswana from resource-based to knowledge-based economy.

The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF)

The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) is a training fund that has been established for skills development in the country.  It is operated through a levy grant system in which companies pay a training levy into the Fund.  The levy payers (employers) train their citizen employees and are reimbursed for costs they incurred for training.

The governing policies are; the Levy Order which prescribes the training levy rates and the Reimbursement Regulations sets out the reimbursement criteria.  The training levy is based on a levy payer’s turnover which is collected by the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) through the Value Added Tax System.

The Public Tertiary Education Institutions Fund (PTEIF)

Will be established for the purpose of financing the recurrent, development and research costs of the public tertiary education institutions. It is envisaged that the Fund will promote efficiency and effectiveness in allocations and utilisation of resources by public tertiary education institutions. Through the Fund, Government seeks to create a culture of good institutional governance, effective financial management and therefore cost consciousness in the country’s tertiary education system.

The Tertiary Education Student Support Fund (TESSF)

Will established for the purpose of financing tertiary education students, based on the principles of transparency, equity, impartiality and predictability in the sponsorship allocation process. Through the Fund, Government also seeks to create a culture of cost consciousness, good governance of student funding and effective financial management in the country’s tertiary education system.