adminSydney Kawadza Senior Reporter
Officials from a top Cypriot tertiary institution Girne American University are in Zimbabwe to assess prospects of building their African campus in the country.
Girne American University general secretary Dr Sualp Davut arrived in the country during the weekend and was yesterday scheduled to meet officials from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development.
“One of our top priorities in Zimbabwe is to share our plans to establish a campus in Africa and the country is a top priority for our investment drive.
“Zimbabwe is a priority country for our investment plans as we have campuses across the world under our franchising arrangements and we are now looking at Africa as our next investment destination,” Dr Davut said.
The university has campuses in Turkey, Kent – United Kingdom, Washington DC, Hong Kong and Moldova.
“From that outlook, the university has campuses on five continents and the next target is Africa and we are strongly looking at the opportunity of establishing the African campus in Zimbabwe,” Dr Davut said.
Girne American University was founded in 1985 and has grown from its small beginnings to being a very strong university with 15,000 students.
The university is continuously expanding its partnerships, programs and campuses abroad.
The tertiary is also targeting Zimbabwean students for its next academic year on 50 percent scholarship.
Dr Davut said Zimbabwean students would also gets extra scholarships an extra 50 percent scholarship for high academic grades, 50 percent extra scholarship for assistantship or a further 50 percent for students in sport teams.
“We have more than 100
Zimbabwean students and we would want to have more since they have proved to be intelligent, peaceful and above all very hard working.
“Zimbabwean students have actually helped us in the university being accorded high standards and we have raked high up there because of the students that have come from Zimbabwe.”
The Girne American University charges Euro 5 000 to Euro 9 000 for undergraduate studies, Euro 6 500 and Euro 8 000 for masters’ and doctorate studies, respectively.
Since its establishment 30 years and a current enrolment of 15 300 students, the Girne American University currently has an enrolment of students from 108 different countries.
“We have only 9 percent student who are from Cyprus while the rest are international students,” he said.
The university is fully accredited with various institutions from across the world where students can upgrade their education credentials.
“As an example, our faculty of business studies is accredited with the IACBE and ECBE and if our students want to continue with their education with affiliated colleges there are at an advantage,” he said.
The Girne American College has been ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for its bachelors programmes.
Online Reporter