Manicaland needs a comprehensive varsity

Dr Hardson Kwandayi
THE Parliamentary committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development was in Mutare on Monday to solicit input from the people into the Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences (MSUAS) Bill that is set to be tabled before parliament soon. The initiative was applauded for supporting the teaching of science in the country, considering that development of any nation is driven by science and technology. This is also consistent with 21st century education.

Manicaland fully supports the establishment of a state university in the province. Manicaland, Mat South and Mash East were the only remaining provinces without state universities. While others argue that universities in Zimbabwe are now too many, if well managed, these institutions would in the long term pay dividends with respect to national development.

Our position is clear, the final MSUAS Act should not be a cut- and- paste document based on Acts of existing State universities. A close analysis shows that most Acts on these institutions are similar. We need a 21st century university Act for MSUAS embedded in good corporate governance principles enshrined in the Constitution. State universities are parastatals, hence they must abide by the new corporate governance code.

According to the Bill, MSUAS will be expected to focus on applied sciences, mineral sciences, forestry sciences, agricultural sciences and tourism and hospitality. However, while it is true that Zimbabwe needs applied sciences to develop, the State university in Manicaland should be a comprehensive or generalist university offering a wide range of programmes in many disciplines in natural and social sciences, humanities, arts and management, among others.

A provincial university focusing only on applied natural sciences will not sufficiently serve the needs and aspirations of the people of Manicaland. Manicaland needs a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary varsity. A specialist or silo type of university will not adequately serve us. MSUAS should be a comprehensive university covering several disciplines and good corporate governance principles should be incorporated in the Act.

A comprehensive university covering several disciplines such as arts, social sciences and business management is critical to the people of Manicaland. For example, it will not make sense for an “A” Level graduate from Sakubva to travel all the way to the University of Zimbabwe (Harare) or Midlands State University (Gweru) to study Shona or History or Sociology. It will be very expensive for that student and his/her family.

If MSU and Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) in Masvingo have comprehensive universities for their respective provinces, why should the people of Manicaland be denied the same opportunity? For equity reasons, all provincial universities should be comprehensive. Of course, they should have a special focus or niche mandated by Government so as to address national priorities.

Generally, great scholars are nurtured in comprehensive universities. We need well-rounded scholars who learn in authentic learning environments not silos. A good scientist must also understand management.

A good engineer must understand project management taught in a business school. In addition, a good scientist must understand ethics of science taught in social sciences or humanities. We also need science graduates in Manicaland who are exposed to other disciplines so that they understand the holistic nature of education and life.

One main feature of the 21st century higher education is holism which is multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary. In fact, we are reminded of a great soldier of the Second World War – Alfred Lee Loomis. Loomis was a generalist American scholar of the highest order and changed the course of World War II with his private science experiments. Loomis did not conform to the conventional measure of a specialist scientist. He was an attorney, investment banker, philanthropist, physicist, inventor of the LORAN Long Range Navigation System, and a lifelong patron of scientific research. He was a Harvard scholar, which is a renowned comprehensive university. As a comprehensive university, MSUAS should one day produce such scholars.

In terms of international ranking, comprehensive or generalist universities score very high in all disciplines. Top science universities are generalist universities, e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, Peking and Harvard. Specialist universities in science do not score very high. MSUAS should also be a comprehensive university so that one day it could also be the Peking or Oxford of the world.

In fact, previous specialist science and technology universities have added other disciplines such as social sciences and business programmes. For example, China University of Agriculture offers other disciplines such as humanities and social sciences.

The same applies to Beijing University of Technology that offers non-technology degrees. The world famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers other disciplines apart from its core business of teaching technology-related degrees. In this regard, MSUAS should open up to other disciplines although its niche would be applied sciences.

While I applaud government’s thrust on science, I believe a broader strategy is required. Just designating specific universities as science and technology universities will not solve our problem. In my view, the approach will not help very much without a requisite school science policy. At present we do not have enough “A” level science graduates to do science in our universities.

Now who will do the science degrees if there are not enough “A” level science graduates? My suggestion is to use the UK 1988 strategy whereby schools were encouraged through incentives to offer science subjects. Government can sponsor “A” level students to do critical science subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Computer Science.

Naturally, students will be tempted to take such subjects if there are incentives and these “A” level graduates will end up doing science at varsities like UZ, NUST and MSUAS. Presently, State varsities tasked to focus on science complain of lack of enough students with “A” level science subjects. So where will MSUAS get its students to do science? Let me be frank. The new practice of bridging “O” and “A” science subjects common in some universities will not help Zimbabwe to produce meaningful scientists.

In my view, the Ministries of Primary and Secondary Education, and Higher and Tertiary Education should sit down and see how the country can produce enough “A” level science graduates to feed into our university system. To simply create universities focusing on science without the requisite student inputs will not help. In the meantime, MSUAS should be allowed to offer degrees the people of Manicaland need irrespective of discipline just like other provincial universities.

The government is currently facing financial challenges which will definitely affect the launch of MSUAS. Where will the government get money to build expensive science laboratories in the next five years when labs in other state varsities like CUT and NUST are incomplete? It is therefore important that MSUAS be allowed to do low cost programmes for the good of the people. As the resources improve, more science laboratories could be built. The “fierce urgency of now” to quote Dr Martin Luther King Jr, is to have a functional MSUAS.

It has been on the cards for too long and further procrastination will not help the province. If this approach is not followed, then there will be no serious MSUAS in the next 10 years because there is no money to build meaningful labs for MSUAS. What will the people of Manicaland say about this failure to launch a meaningful university? In fact, Government should use its 1980 policy of starting new secondary schools which were referred to as upper tops but today most of them are now fully fledged high schools.

MSUAS should use the same model – starting with cheaper degree programmes which the province need. Given the shortage of funds to support State varsities in general, provinces should be encouraged to support their universities just like it is done in the United States. In the US, States support their universities and in Zimbabwe provinces should also support their universities.

This is consistent with the decentralisation policy. Once services are decentralised, communities should also play their role. It will be easier for provinces through districts to support these institutions provided they are comprehensive and respond to diverse provincial educational needs.

However, if MSUAS disciplines are defined by government, then support for such universities will be weak. In this regard, the Act should indicate that some funding have to be availed by provinces through districts. Universities are expensive ventures and national government funding will not adequately address needs of most provincial universities so another funding strategy should be found. However, to succeed, the provincial universities should be seen to address local needs.

Hence, a model of funding provincial universities should be put in place. If villages can build good schools, surely provinces should build better universities if proper management systems are put in place. However, to avoid creating parochial and regionalistic universities, provincial universities should ensure that a certain percentage of their student enrolment come from other provinces, e.g 40 percent.

Generally, good universities recruit nationally and internationally. Those that recruit locally are not taken seriously. So MSUAS should not be a village type of university. Again comprehensive universities will ensure economies of scale, that is, they will attract large enrolment big enough to make running university business cheaper.

Small universities are expensive to run so MSUAS should open up to other disciplines to ensure economies of scale. A bigger enrolment will ensure affordable fees. Some institutions become very expensive because they have very few students and to make ends meet, raise their fees to unacceptable and uneconomic levels. MSUAS should not fall into this trap.

The MSUAS Act should ensure that basic corporate governance principles such as transparency, accountability and participatory governance are met. Most institutions of higher learning have problems because of poor corporate governance.

To ensure good corporate governance, the MSUAS Act should be crafted in such a way that good corporate governance shall be observed. e.g. instead of hand picking council members as policy makers and governors of the varsity, they should apply to be considered and be interviewed publicly like what has been happening with Supreme Court judges.

Council members should also demonstrate knowledge of and interest in higher education. They must also demonstrate good university corporate governance knowledge and skills. The Vice Chancellor should be hired on competitive basis as they do in other countries, i.e. candidates should be interviewed by students and lecturers. It would also help if they could also address key stakeholders as part of their selection process e.g councilors and local MPs.

The appointed Vice Chancellor must demonstrate university competence in varsity leadership and management. They must also understand higher education market and field. The contract of the Vice Chancellor should be renewed subject to successful performance based on results based management.

MSUAS should be guided by modern tenets of university management which are market orientation and responsiveness to students needs. Good universities today respond to the needs of their clients who are the students, parents and their communities. They are not the “know-it- all” type of institution. Just like modern business, good universities know that the customer (especially the student), is the “king”.

MSUAS curriculum should be linked to the curricula of polytechnic colleges where similar programmes are offered. For example, in the USA and Canada, curricula of community colleges and universities are streamlined. A student can start at a community college and finish their degree at the varsity. MSUAS curriculum should be linked to Mutare Polytechnic College and the local Forestry College.

This will ensure authentic education, i.e. education meant to solve real and practical problems in society. This is important because Zimbabwe’s polytechnic colleges appear to provide more useful and practical curricula compared to universities some of which offer esoteric but irrelevant programmes.

Finally, like in most people-centered universities, MSUAS will be expected to be the cultural hub of Manicaland where all rich cultures in the province converge. It must also be a venue for artistic endeavours from all corners of the country and beyond.

MSUAS should be the meeting place for the province where people discuss development issues as well as a centre for national events. MSUAS should not be an ivory tower serving parochial interests.

Finally, although the varsity will be in Manicaland, it must also cater for broad national interests through research and development, and other expected national roles. Indeed, good universities worldwide serve their communities as well as their nations.

Dr Hardson Kwandayi is a public policy analyst based in Mutare. He holds a PhD in Higher Education Administration from the University of Arizona (USA). He is also an education consultant. His contact email address is [email protected].