Graduates reveal Africa University's special strengths
5/29/1998 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn NOTE: This story is a sidebar to UMNS #329. By Andra Stevens* MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS)-- Africa University's students generally agree that the institution is special. What you will find, though, are varying opinions about what makes the university unique.
For Christopher Njoroge, a Kenyan and member of the 1998 graduating class, Africa University stands out in its approach to business education. Njoroge is one of nine students awarded the master of business administration (MBA) degree at Africa University.
"This MBA is a very special program in that it blends what you have learned before and makes you more practical and effective as a manager," Njoroge said.
A certified public accountant in Kenya, Njoroge worked in both the public and private sectors before enrolling at the university. The additional training and exposure he has received there are important, he said, because of the tremendous impact of globalization and other trends on
African economies.
The MBA program brings together senior managers, administrators and management educators from throughout the continent. They include people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Some MBA students own and manage successful businesses. Others are senior administrators responsible for setting and implementing policies, and some hold management positions in the private sector.
Professor Rukudzo Murapa, the chairman of the International Planning Committee that drew up Africa University's MBA program and now the university's vice chancellor, is excited by the potential of the program and other graduates to influence the continent's economic future.
Africa University was very deliberate in its choice of the MBA as the foundation program of its Faculty of Management and Administration in 1994. The faculty's mission is to produce managers and other professionals who are sensitive to the challenges and opportunities that influence socio-economic development and who can deal effectively with the typical problems in Africa's private and public sectors.
An expert group made up of persons from Africa, the USA and Europe worked on the curriculum. They brought to the process their diverse experiences, knowledge of systems and backgrounds. Key stakeholders in business, industry and other sectors were consulted at both the development and implementation stages. What emerged from the process was an MBA program tailored to Africa's needs.
The first group of MBA candidates enrolled in January 1996 and graduated last December. The second group of graduates includes young people with strong views about what Africa needs to secure its own future.
"What we need in our economies are people who know what they want, where they are going and who have the skills and knowledge to be able to lead," said Patience Mtisi of Zimbabwe. She and her colleagues in the program speak of creating employment rather than becoming employees.
Even where the economic and social difficulties appear daunting, that outlook is shared.
The Rev. Daniel Mondeh, for example, is a Sierra Leonean who has watched a crisis unfold in his country. He is keenly aware of the challenges he will face after graduation.
"For about six months now I have not heard from my family," he said. "The only news I've heard came from a third party who said that my wife and two children, aged nine and 13, fled Sierra Leone for Guinea. So many people have been killed or displaced, and so much of the
infrastructure demolished, that it's hard to imagine when our country might return to normalcy."
But Mondeh hopes that in time, he too will put his MBA to use in his own country. He wants to introduce business management skills to the running of church affairs and developing
church-run enterprises and projects that generate revenue.
In addition to its full-time two-year MBA program, the Faculty of Management and Administration is offering a part-time program in Mutare. The faculty plans to extend its reach beyond the borders of Zimbabwe by offering programs in collaboration with institutions of higher learning in other African countries.
Located in the lush Nyagambu Valley outside Mutare, Africa University is the first private university in Zimbabwe. The United Methodist Church-related institution, which opened in 1992, has 551 students from 18 African countries.
The university emphasizes Christian values and seeks to empower African young people with the skills to change and develop their continent. It welcomes all legal residents of Africa, without regard to social standing, religion, race, ethnic origin, nationality or gender, to study and work on its campus.
As an independent church-related entity, Africa University does not receive any government funds. Instead, it relies on money from the general church budget, student fees and gifts from friends and supporters for its operations and growth.
The university offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. It has five faculties, or departments: theology, agriculture and natural resources, education, humanities and social sciences, and management and administration.
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*Stevens is Africa University's director of information.
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