MSU opens new campus

Kamangeni Phiri Midlands Bureau
MIDLANDS State University intends to enrol close to 5,000 students for its new campus in Zvishavane, the university registrar, Erasmus Mupfiga, has said. The premises for the new campus were acquired from Shabanie Mashava Mining Holdings (SMM) and the Midlands based university has just completed renovating the institution in time for the opening of the new semester next month.

Mupfiga said the Zvishavane campus marks the beginning of MSU’s implementation of its multi-campus approach project.
He said: “We have completed renovating facilities that were acquired from SMM Holdings.

“The campus will accommodate about 5,000 students and we will be able to provide on campus accommodation to about 200 students and the rest will have to seek temporary accommodation from outside the campus while we work on plans to acquire additional hostels”.

Mupfiga said all was set for the opening of the campus.
“We are yet to sit down and decide which faculties or departments will be at our Zvishavane campus. It is highly likely that we will open the new campus next semester,” he said.
Mupfiga said MSU is adopting the multi-campus approach as a way of increasing the institution’s visibility.

He said the multi-campus approach was meant to cut on cost of university education.
“The idea of opening a new campus is to bring the institution closer to different communities in and outside the province. Our multi campus approach seeks to increase the institution’s visibility.

“We are in the process of engaging the Zvishavane community so that they would accommodate our students when we open the new campus. Most of our students will be staying outside campus but it remains our responsibility to cater for their welfare on and off the campus. We would want our students to secure decent accommodation,” said Mupfiga.
He said there were future plans to build or secure hostels for the Zvishavane campus students.

MSU, which has an enrolment of approximately 18,000 students, is also planning on building hotel and medical schools in Gweru.