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	Zimbabwe
by Raymund Maunde

Introduction
Zimbabwe with a population of more than 11 million has a gross national product (GNP) of $2,690. Mining and agriculture are Zimbabwe’s main economic activities. Zimbabwe is the second most industrialized country after South Africa in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

History of Higher Education
The establishment of the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1957 was the first-ever colonial government initiative toward instituting a post-secondary school in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland received its Royal Charter on February 10, 1955. The student population stood at 717 full-time and 141 part-time after a decade of the university college's existence.

The University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland started with three faculties: education, arts, and sciences. The faculty of engineering came into existence in 1974, and the faculties of agriculture, commerce, and law, respectively, followed in 1980.

Student Enrollment and Faculty
The University of Zimbabwe has had 10 faculties since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. The overall student and faculty numbers increased year after year as indicated in the tables below. It is interesting to note that in the year 2000, male student enrollment dropped remarkably, while at the same time female student enrollment increased appreciably.

Enrollment at the University of Zimbabwe: 2000
Faculty	Agricul.		Arts		Comm.		Educ.		English		Law
UG	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
1st yr	107	33	227	167	216	71	74	78	241	20	62	32
2nd yr	113	28	269	136	173	54	200	80	161	11	63	29
3rd yr	74	20	169	137	164	63			161		43	42
4th yr	6		11						141	9	42	28
5th yr									25
Tot UG	300	81	676	440	553	188	274	158	729	40	210	131

Faculty	Med.		Sci.		Soc. St.		Vet. Sci.		Total
F/T	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
1st yr	228	101	336	131	377	306	20	11	1,888	950
2nd yr	245	90	256	78	334	182	21	5	1,835	693
3rd yr	171	94	127	83	256	197	21	6	1,186	642
4th yr	128	55	5	2	21	14	20	6	374	114
5th yr	75	27					6	6	106	33
Tot UG	847	367	724	294	988	699	88	34	2,489	2,423

Private Higher Education
Africa University started offering classes in March 1992. Because of the international nature of Africa University, the United Methodist Church authorities stipulated that 60% of the students and faculty members would be drawn from outside Zimbabwe. In August 2001, there were 70 faculty members, including 52 permanent teachers, 15 part-time teachers, and three lecturers. Out of a total of 772 students, 527 were from Zimbabwe. Angola, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo had 60, 58, and 54 students respectively.

Solusi University is sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Solusi had a total of 694 students in the year 2000, with 334 female students and 360 male students. Solusi University offers two graduate programs: a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and a Master of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences.

The Catholic University in Zimbabwe started operating in February 1999, offering programs in business management and information technology. Student enrollment was 24 males and 17 females. In 2001, enrollment increased to 85 male and 50 female students, and the faculty of humanities came into existence.

Arrupe College started in 1997 as an exclusively male Jesuit college affiliated with the University of Zimbabwe. In 1997, the student body consisted of 80 Jesuit aspirants from Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone Africa. The college offers a four-year University of Zimbabwe BA Honors degree in philosophy and humanities, a three-year UZ BA in philosophy, a three-year Gregorian University (Rome) BA in philosophy, and a three-year diploma.

Governance and Administration
At the time of independence, the idea of having state president as chancellor of a national university was becoming questionable as the number of government-sponsored universities increased. Vice-chancellors run university affairs. In a similar manner, the heads of church-related universities’ are automatically the chancellors. Like any state university, a vice-chancellor administers and runs the church-related university's affairs.

Each university, whether government or privately sponsored and funded, has a body constituting a university council. The council members vary in number according to the size and needs of the university.

Research and Publishing
Research and research facilities are among the poorest. It will take time to build a culture of reading, writing, and research. Zimbabwe's publishing industry is very small and local. Publishers like Mambo Press, Longmans, College Press, and a few others have supported the writing of novels, short stories, poetry, and so forth in English, Ndebele, or Shona.

Funding and Resources
University institutions lack of transparency and accountability in money matters has been an intractable problem countrywide. A common complaint at several college and university institutions was that some authorities did not adhere to appropriate forms of division of labor, responsibility, accountability, and transparency in their administrative practice.

Note: For detailed account on the state of higher education in Zimbabwe, please consult Raymund Maunde: African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook (Damtew Teferra and Philip. G. Altbach, Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 636-648.

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