adminUZ Vice Chancellor Professor Levy Nyagura confirmed the development in an interview yesterday.
He said the UZ would accommodate 4 500 students on campus after overcoming several challenges including water shortages.
“I can confirm that the halls of residence will be opened on September 7 this year and will accommodate 4 500 students.
“However, 8 000 students will be without accommodation and are expected to make their own provisions within Harare,” Prof Nyagura said.
He said water challenges had seriously affected the reopening of the hostels.
The UZ, Prof Nyagura said, had built a reservoir and it is almost complete.
He said they have also completed refurbishing the hostels.
“We would have wanted to accommodate more students, but we hope the move will reduce pressure on students who had to find alternative accommodation.
“First year students will get first preference in allocation of the accommodation to help them settle down in a new environment,” he said.
Prof Nyagura urged other stakeholders to set up more halls of residence at the campus in public-private-partnerships.
He made a passionate appeal to landlords within the environs of the university to exercise goodwill in providing cheap accommodation to non-residents.
Student hostels at the university were closed in 2006 owing to a number of problems including dilapidation and water shortages that hit the institution.
Homeowners in nearby suburbs were offering students accommodation.
At one time, 90 students were reported to be living in crammed and squalid conditions at a house in Mount Pleasant.
More than 100 students were accommodated at a church in the same suburb while 56 others shared a house in Mendel Street in Avondale.
Students who stay in other suburbs have to fork out US$2 a day for transport to and from the university.
Online Reporter