Online Reporter
Debra Matabvu-Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday capped 6 918 University of Zimbabwe graduates, with authorities noting that the high number of human capital at the institution has over the years positioned the college as a leader in research and innovation.
The number of undergraduates was 5 949, while 938 graduated with Masters degrees. Those that graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy degree were 29, including 12 women.
Two males graduated with a Master of Philosophy degree.
In his keynote address, UZ Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo said UZ had become a leader in research and innovative solutions, riding on its large human capital base.
“Your Excellency, Chancellor, allow me to highlight the University of Zimbabwe’s many achievements during the 2024-25 academic year,” said Prof Mapfumo.
“I will start with the research, innovation and industrialisation ecosystem. Your Excellency, Chancellor, the radical transformation we have undergone since 2019 after you launched our strategic plan in 2019-2025, has positioned the university as a leader in the delivery of relevant research and innovative solutions, and its huge human capital and entrepreneurial mindset to drive Zimbabwe’s industrialisation and modernisation agenda.
“Our research, innovation and industrialisation ecosystem is now mature and is beginning to yield commercialisable products, goods and services tailored to our basic societal needs.”
Of those that graduated yesterday, 1 067 were from the faculty of medicine and health sciences, 331 from the faculty of Agriculture, Environment and Food systems, 339 from Computer Engineering Informatics and Communications, 508 from the faculty of Engineering and built Environment, 491 from the faculty of Law and 31 from the Veterinary sciences among other disciplines.
President Mnangagwa also capped five students from the UZ-Pan African Minerals University of Science and Technology who had completed their programmes.
He outlined several milestone achievements and outcomes the university has had during the 2024/25 academic year and said the UZ was making huge strides in consolidating its transformation with a focus on deepening its scholarship as a premier higher education training institution in the country.
“Since our last graduation ceremony, there are a number of highlights I want to bring to your attention. The university has registered 16 startups, 13 of which are student-led,” said Prof Mapfumo.
“Six of these start-ups were officially launched by our Honourable Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Ambassador Dr Frederick Shava, who was represented by the Honourable Minister of Skills Audit and Development, Professor Paul Mavima.
“We have 21 start-ups that we launched in 2021, Your Excellency, that are now at different stages of maturity and we expect that seven of these start-ups will be graduating from the Innovation Hub by the end of this year.
“They also helped us to name the hubs. We have set up an industrial innovation centre in Msasa to incubate our start-ups that are coming from the Innovation Hub.”
Prof Mapfumo said the UZ has also made notable progress in farming, with the institution becoming a self-food sufficient.
In the period September 2024 to October 2025, the UZ harvested over 2 000 tonnes of maize, enough to satisfy the needs of their students in accommodation and among the students.
The UZ is now able to produce its feed at a rate of 1 500 tonnes per year, which has enabled them to have a fully-fledged poultry production system that can produce 110 000 birds at any one time.
Prof Mapfumo said to sustain their agro-processing plans launched in 2023, the UZ has engaged over 350 small-holder farmers on an empowerment scheme for the supply of many raw materials such as maize and sweet potatoes.
Herald reporter Mukudzei Chingwere follows proceedings before being conferred with a Master of Science Degree in International Trade and Diplomacy at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday.
He added that in terms of intellectual property, the UZ now leads in the area of nature and geosciences, ICT, mining, agriculture and veterinary science, among others. The UZ anchors its knowledge on the over 2 000 publications produced annually.
Prof Mapfumo added that the UZ has produced 98 commercialisable products “within sentences since the last graduation, bringing us to a cumulative 350 university-linked products.”
“Notable among these are the new range of products that you launched in September 2023. We have since opened a main market in the CBD to complement of our supermarkets.
“The ICT innovations we have made include the new third number plate, car tracking and asset management system that is being used by some of the companies in the Pfumvudza farmer management system that is being piloted with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, the human capital management system for managing workers’ time at construction sites being piloted with the university infrastructure project, the pension management system which has been adopted by NSSA and the smart water management system, which is being piloted by the UZ among other innovations.”
He also said the institution had over the past year received 229 institutional awards and recognitions under the section of leadership and sportsmanship.
Among students that received honours and awards were the Best Female and the Best Male students in the undergraduate category, who received the Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Chancellor’s Award, with a prize money of US$1 000 each.
