New state university to open this year

A new university is to open in Zimbabwe in September, bringing the country a step closer to President Robert Mugabe’s dream of establishing an institution of higher learning in every province.

The opening of Gwanda State University, or GSU, in Matabeleland North leaves only two of the country’s 10 provinces, Mashonaland East and Manicaland, without public universities.

Faculties at GSU would include mining engineering and life sciences, with humanities and Earth sciences expected to be unveiled in the future. Gwanda town council donated 87 hectares of land to the university, while the government donated 2.5 hectares, to be used for farming activities.

GSU was originally due to open in 2008. But the plans were shelved due to the country’s political and economic crisis, when inflation reached a world record of 231 million percent, according to government statistics, or 500 billion percent, according to International Monetary Fund figures.

The formation of the inclusive government in February 2009 between Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, appeared to have saved the situation.

Mugabe, whose education policies have seen Zimbabwe boasting one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, said his goal was to launch a university in every province.

Last Friday he launched his Zanu-PF’s election manifesto, ahead of the country’s 31 July polls. In it he undertakes to consolidate the educational gains that have been made.

The manifesto says that at independence in 1980, the country had only the University of Zimbabwe, but now has 12 universities, including private institutions, with enrolment skyrocketing from 3,000 students to 17,000.

The number of teachers colleges had also increased, from eight in 1980 to 14 in 2013, while polytechnics had increased from two to 13 during the same period.

These figures, according to the manifesto, were achieved as a result of Zanu-PF’s consistent commitment to devoting the largest proportion of the national budget to education, and “accounts for the profound and durable architecture upon which the country's system of education is built”.

If Mugabe wins the forthcoming polls, he has said he intends initiating a US$29.5 million presidential scholarship fund, enabling students to be sent to foreign universities, to create diversity and depth in Zimbabwe’s human capital across disciplines and professions.

Despite his investment in education, Mugabe is a dictator with no respect for academic freedoms and greater civil liberties. The Zimbabwe National Students Union, or ZINASU, the largest student movement in the country, has said it would be backing Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s main rival, in the forthcoming polls.

“We have thrown in the hat in support of the progressive democratic force led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,” ZINASU said.

“Students have unilaterally declared that Zanu-PF is an enemy beyond conciliation and as we go for elections later this year, we will definitely mobilise against it.”