LSU raises $1,5 million for works on tourism school

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
LUPANE State University (LSU) has raised more than $1.5 million for the preliminary works on the construction of its International School of Hospitality and Tourism in Victoria Falls in its bid to enhance quality and widen the base of personnel needed by the tourism industry.

This comes after the institution, which is the only university in Matabeleland North Province, acquired two-hectares of land from the Victoria Falls City Council, on the Buffer Zone between Chinotimba and the Hwange-Victoria Falls highway for the project.

In an interview, LSU marketing and communications director Mr Zwelithini Dlamini said the institution had paid for the stand in full and had raised $ 1.5 million for preliminary works.

“We have paid for the stand in full. According to the plan of the works which we intend to roll out we will start with water connection which will be done hopefully in the next two to three weeks, hence the institution has raised $ 1.5 million for that. This will also be used for the perimeter wall so that it is secure as we deliver the construction materials at the site,” said Mr Dlamini.

He said the construction costs were to come from joint ventures and an expression of interest tender would be flighted in the media. Mr Dlamini said the drawings of the plan had already been approved and they were still mobilising adequate resources so that the construction works could start.

“The structures will include a satellite campus, conferencing facility, a hotel and also accommodation facility for our students. Construction work should start within the next six months. We will be monitoring the numbers of enrolments as we expand. For now, we are saying to the people of the region as well as the nation at large here is an opportunity for prospective students who might want to venture into tourism and hospitality to come to Lupane State University and enroll for the current running programme,” he said.

He said as the university was offering a degree in the Faculty of Commerce, which is the Degree in Hospitality and Tourism. Mr Dlamini said this would allow them to have a full experience of the tourism industry at the campus located in a prime tourism resort such as the City of Victoria Falls.

“As we raise the flag of the LSU, the International School of Hospitality and Tourism is strategic enough and close enough to our neighbouring countries of Zambia, Namibia and Botswana. We are hopeful we should be able to attract students from those countries and beyond.”

LSU operates from Bulawayo and Lupane campuses with an enrolment of more than 5 000 students. The facility will come in as a complementary effort to the tourism industry and a key pillar of the economy.

The industry relies on outsourcing personnel from other parts of the country where there are hospitality and tourism schools such as in Bulawayo, Masvingo, Chinhoyi, Harare and Gweru.