Zimbabwe

August 2009: Given the current instability in Zimbabwe, this article is brief. We require to have an entry on Zimbabwe because there are several institutions of relevance in the country, despite its current difficulties.

All URLs in the article were checked on 18 August 2009. The evidence is that many post-secondary institution sites are functional but that access is extremely slow.

Partners situated in Zimbabwe

None.

Zimbabwe in a nutshell

(Sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, and formerly Southern Rhodesia, the Republic of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia, is a landlocked country in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east. The official language of Zimbabwe is English. However, the majority of the population speaks Shona, which is the native language of the Shona people, a Bantu Language; the other native language of Zimbabwe being Sindebele, which is spoken by the Matabele people.

The population of Zimbabwe is best estimated at around 12 million

The capital and largest city of Zimbabwe is Harare.

Zimbabwe has a centralised government but is divided into eight provinces and two cities with provincial status, for administrative purposes. Each province has a provincial capital from where official business is usually carried out.

Economy

The economy of Zimbabwe has recently been seriously affected by very high unemployment, hyperinflation, and population displacement within and to outside the country. Twenty years ago it was one of Africa's strongest economies but is now one of the world's worst. The country has reserves of metallurgical-grade chromite - other commercial mineral deposits include coal, asbestos, copper, nickel, gold, platinum and iron ore. However, its ongoing political turmoil and one of the world's highest rate of inflation have greatly hampered its progress. Farm production has also been seriously disrupted.

It is to be hoped that when political stability returns the natural talent and educated background of many Zimbabweans will suffice to regenerate the economy within a few years.

Zimbabwe education system

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Zimbabwe)

The Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture maintains and operates the government schools.

Zimbabwe had an adult literacy rate of approximately 90% which is amongst the highest in Africa. However, since 1995 the adult literacy rate of Zimbabwe has steadily decreased.

The majority of the wealthier portion of the population send their children to independent schools as opposed to the government-run schools (which have lower fees) which are attended by the poorer members of the population. School education was made free in 1980, but since 1988, the government has steadily increased the charges attached to school enrollment.

A major characteristic of Zimbabwean schools was the high priority given to sports, clubs and activities by the community, the parents, the schools and the students themselves. Extracurricular activities are educational activities not falling within the scope of the regular curriculum but under the supervision of the school. These activities can extend to large amounts of time outside the normal school day. Student participation in sports programmes, drill teams, bands, and spirit groups can amount to hours of practices and performances

The ZARNET page http://www.zarnet.ac.zw/html/academic.html notes that:

Zimbabwe has a total of 1 573 secondary schools and 4 767 primary schools in the whole country.For more information, visit the Zimbabwe Schools Website (this is not active).

Higher education

The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education is the government ministry responsible for university and college education in Zimbabwe. it has a web page at http://www.mhet.ac.zw but internal evidence suggests that it is two years out of date.

Universities in Zimbabwe

The page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Zimbabwe gives the universities in Zimbabwe as the following:

1. University of Zimbabwe, the first and largest, situated in Harare - http://www.uz.ac.zw
2. National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe (NUST), the second state university - http://www.nust.ac.zw/
3. Africa University, in Mutare - http://www.africau.edu/ (site inaccessible)
4. Midlands State University - http://www.msu.ac.zw/ (site inaccessible)
5. Bindura University of Science Education - http://www.buse.ac.zw/ (site inaccessible)
6. Chinhoyi University of Technology - http://www.cut.ac.zw/
7. Great Zimbabwe University - seems to have no URL but see http://www.sarua.org/?q=uni_Great+Zimbabwe+University
8. Catholic University in Zimbabwe - appears to have no web site
9. Zimbabwe Open University
10. Women's University in Africa - but this is not listed at http://www.zarnet.ac.zw/html/academic.html
11. Solusi University - http://www.solusi.ac.zw/
12. Lupane State University - appears to have no web site

The ZARNET page http://www.zarnet.ac.zw/html/academic.html lists most of these, but notes that some do not seem to have web sites.

Polytechnics in Zimbabwe

The ZARNET page http://www.zarnet.ac.zw/html/academic.html lists the ones below, but does not give any URLs (those noted have been discovered separately):

1. Harare Polytechnic - http://www.hrepoly.ac.zw/ - it notes the "Graduation Ceremony on the 4th september 2009"
2. Bulawayo Polytechnic - stub web site at http://www.bulawayopoly.ac.zw/Vision.htm
3. Mutare Technical College (possibly now Mutare Polytechnic)
4. Masvingo Technical College
5. Kushinga-Phikelela Technical college
6. Gweru Technical College
7. Kwekwe technical College
8. Belvedere Teachers College
9. ARRUPE College, Jesuit School of Philosophy and Humanities

Quality assurance

The National Council for Higher Education is the state body responsible for accreditation of universities in Zimbabwe, under the guidance of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education. This was set up in 2006 - see http://www.law.co.zw/downloads/statutes/25/Zimbabwe%20Council%20For%20Higher%20Education%20Act.pdf

Zimbabwe's HEIs in the information society

The NREN for Zimbabwe is ZARNET, the Zimbabwe Academic and Research Network - see http://www.zarnet.ac.zw/

This appears functional even if connections are slow.

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

The Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) - see http://www.zou.co.zw. This is currently advertising for its August 2009 intake - see http://www.zou.co.zw/academic/Apply/ZOU_Aug_2009_intake.pdf

Interesting Programmes

There are some providers with interest or capability in e-learning but it is not clear how active they are:

• Theological College of Zimbabwe - http://tcz.co.zw/moodle/ - appears functional but there are only 3 messages on the site in the last six months
• Chinhoyi University Of Technology - http://www.cut.ac.zw/indexx.html
• Africa University Virtual Classroom - http://www.africau.ac.zw/index.php?cal_m=10&cal_y=2006 (site inaccessible)
• National University of Science and Technology (NUST) - http://www.nust.ac.zw

We do not feel at present that any qualify as Programmes.

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

References

• Education in Zimbabwe, http://www.sacmeq.org/education-zimbabwe.htm

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