Africa University forges ties with school in Mozambique
2/10/2000 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn NOTE: A sidebar, UMNS story #057, is available with this report. By Andra Stevens* MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) -- A new linkage agreement with Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique is already bearing fruit for Africa University.
The Instituto Camões, a cultural agency with headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal, has agreed to provide funds to support a full-time lecturer to teach Portuguese at the Mutare school. The lecturer will be based in the languages department at Africa University's Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. Africa University is working with Eduardo Mondlane University to identify and recruit the lecturer.
"This institutional relationship has great potential," said Professor Rukudzo Murapa, Africa University's vice chancellor. "Our colleagues at Eduardo Mondlane bring many years of experience and a rich tradition in teaching, research and community service to the table. On our side, we have the uniqueness of our pan-African outlook in higher education and the lessons learned from bringing into being a private, United Methodist Church-related university in Africa at the turn of the 21st century."
The linkage agreement was signed during the executive committee meeting of the Africa University Board of Directors in Maputo, Mozambique, last November. It provides for faculty, technical/administrative staff and student exchanges, joint research and other projects between the two schools.
The meeting in Mozambique's capital city marked the first time that members of the executive committee had met in an African city outside Zimbabwe. The committee members saw firsthand some of the constraints, challenges and opportunities facing most state-sponsored higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Executive committee members heard from Africa University alumni, government officials and business representatives about their experiences in working on Mozambique's development.
"We are so happy to find ourselves in Mozambique to affirm, with the agreement we have just signed, our willingness to march together towards Africa's intellectual development," said Bishop Emilio J. M. De Carvalho, Africa University's chancellor and chairman of the board of directors.
Such a linkage is rare among African universities. Links between well-endowed, successful institutions in North America and Europe and those in Africa are the norm because African institutions so often find themselves strapped for resources. Africa University and Eduardo Mondlane officials have pledged to offer adequate resources to support their linkage projects and activities.
"We believe in south/south cooperation," said Professor Brazão Mazula, rector of Eduardo Mondlane University. "We must develop our institutions, but we cannot forget to nurture human values, nor can we neglect the needs around us. We are neighbor institutions, and our communities share common values, challenges and aspirations, so we must work together for the rapid development of our people."
A lecturer of Portuguese in the languages department is only the beginning. Dean Athanasius Mphuru and members of his Faculty of Agriculture & Natural Resources at Africa University are working with colleagues at Eduardo Mondlane on the curriculum, financial and human resources to jointly offer master's degree programs in agribusiness, agricultural economics, horticulture and plant sciences in the near future.
Founded in 1962 as Lourenco Marques University, Eduardo Mondlane is the country's oldest and largest higher education institution. Its name was changed soon after independence in honor of the founder of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique.
The Mozambican school has a current enrollment of more than 7,000 students and offers degree programs in 10 faculties. With the help of externally funded capacity building programs, the institution invested heavily in staff development and now boasts more than 600 lecturers. Eighty-five percent of the teaching staff is Mozambican, and most of the instructors hold advanced degrees in their areas of specialization.
Eduardo Mondlane has a large campus, with buildings, parks, reserves and open spaces, but most of its buildings are more than 30 years old and show signs of deterioration. The buying power of the money provided by the Mozambican government is declining steadily. Space and facilities are not adequate in some instances, and areas such as the library, laboratories and centers that require new technology are suffering.
The school is responding with major efforts to reorganize and generate more financial support from donor agencies, foundations and others.
In contrast, Africa University is a private institution and does not receive funds from any government for its operating expenses. It manages effective friend and fund-raising campaigns in support of scholarships, capital development and its endowment fund. Its guiding vision, organization and development plan are being scrutinized increasingly by state institutions such as Eduardo Mondlane, in response to changes in government financing.
Africa University is the first private university in Zimbabwe and the only one related to the United Methodist Church on the continent. It admitted its first group of students in March 1992 and today has 870 enrolled. The school began with undergraduate degrees in agriculture and theology and has since expanded its offerings to include such disciplines as education, management and administration, and humanities and social sciences.
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*Stevens is director of the Africa University Office of Information.
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