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Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
President Robert Mugabe yesterday capped 2,612 students at the Midlands State University (MSU) in Gweru. The 15th graduation ceremony is the second to be held at the institution of higher learning this year following a similar function on November 28. Of the 2,612, a total of 228 were under-graduates, 384 got Masters’ degrees, 121 graduated with first-class degrees and 31 were international students.
The international students were drawn from countries such as South Sudan, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Nigeria. Speaking at the graduation ceremony, MSU Vice Chancellor Professor Ngwabi Bhebe said President Mugabe’s was kind enough to facilitate the second graduation after realising that more students needed to graduate this year.
“We would like to thank President Mugabe for graciously according our university a record second graduation in a single year. The graduands would have graduated next year,” he said. Prof Bhebe said MSU was equipping students with entrepreneurial skills that would enable them create employment after completing their studies.
As such, Prof Bhebe said, the university had studied the Indian economy which has thrived on small to medium enterprises adding that the institution was set to benefit from South-South cooperation through student exchange programme with India.
“Your Excellency and Chancellor, we wish to assure you that we’re also seriously taking on board your spot-on observation that our commerce graduates need to be provided with such skills and knowledge as would turn them into productive citizens,” he said.
“In this regard, we’ve decided not to re-invent the wheel but we have already thoroughly researched the Indian economy whose entrepreneurship education programmes have resulted in a thriving economy.
“Of particular interest in the Indian system is the fact that entrepreneurship education has focused on measures designed to encourage self-employment and the establishment of small and medium enterprises.” Prof Bhebe said the fact that President Mugabe accorded MSU a second graduation in less than a month showed his passion for education.
“This graduation ceremony today, which arose entirely out of our Chancellor’s compassionate consideration of our graduands, is ample testimony of the tremendous value that His Excellency attaches to the role of higher education as an engine for socio-economic development,” he said.
Prof Bhebe said governments the world over cannot adequately fund institutions of higher learning and as such they had come up with other activities aimed at raising money. Among the activities are fundable research partnerships that bring financial resources to the university.
One such partnership is the $97,000 grant by the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa. Prof Bhebe said MSU was in the process of upgrading its staff to attain PhDs and other innovative training programmes to improve the quality of delivery.
He said the institution engaged part time lecturers from industry to infuse a practical component in the teaching of some of the modules. In attendance were Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo among other high-profile government officials.
Online Reporter