2 000 graduate at ZOU

Harare Bureau
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday capped nearly 2 000 students who graduated with various degrees from the Zimbabwe Open University (Zou).
The graduates were from the faculties of Agriculture (77); Science and Technology (149); Commerce (496); Arts and Education (467) and Applied Social Sciences (574), as well as the Higher Degrees Directorate (15).

Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Secretary Cde George Charamba’s wife, Rudo Gwata, graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Studies degree.
Three Mozambicans and an Angolan national also graduated with Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

At the graduation ceremony in Harare, Zou Vice Chancellor Professor Primrose Kurasha said: “Your Excellency (President Mugabe), there lies your legacy or your greatest gift to mankind; it is educating the people. Real legacies are not about material inheritances, not really. It’s about influence and development of people who make a difference in our lives.”

Prof Kurasha said Zou was working towards the success of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).

“Since most of them are employed, the value-addition resulting from the knowledge they acquired as they studied was taking place at their work stations and social environments.”

Zou was operationalised in 1999 to provide open and distance learning.

Now boasting 16 000 students, the university is partnering other higher learning institutions in Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and Botswana.

More than 30 000 students have graduated from Zou since its inception.