University defends awarding of PhD to Grace Mugabe

The vice-chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe has defended the awarding of a PhD to Grace Mugabe for her work on orphanages. The former first lady’s thesis has been subject to intense scrutiny since it was posted on the university’s website last month, with critics saying it falls far short of the normal standard required for a doctorate, reports Eyewitness News.

University of Zimbabwe Vice-chancellor Levi Nyagura says Mugabe’s thesis has been sitting in the university library for the past four years. His comments came in response to questions about why it took so long for the university to make the thesis public after the degree was controversially awarded four years ago. Nyagura has told the state-run Herald that the former first lady was properly supervised and he hit out at academics in the sociology department, whom he described as ignorant.

Ten academics have written a petition calling for Mugabe's doctorate to be nullified: they say proper procedures weren’t followed, and that academic corruption was committed.
Full report on the Eyewitness News site