University of Zimbabwe Review

The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is located in Harare the capital of Zimbabwe in the up-market Mount Pleasant suburb of northern Harare. The University was established back during the days of Rhodesia before the country became known as Zimbabwe. In 1980 at Zimbabwe's political independence the name of the University was changed.

UZ has an enrolment of over 10 000 students covering both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Over the last 20 years the university became one of the most popular and respected universities in Africa and Zimbabwe. The political problems that started in Zimbabwe in 2000 and followed by a weakening Zimbabwe currency saw the University sharply deteriorating in standards and outrightly shunned by international students.

During its hey days the University of Zimbabwe attracted students and academics from Europe and America who benefited from vast exchange programs in almost every faculty. Amongst its top products are current Zimbabwe's political leaders such as Vice Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara and Tendai Biti the Finance Minister in the new coalition government in Zimbabwe.

The University was known to promote academic freedoms and human rights until the government successfully weakened a once vibrant students union that led demonstrations against national policy initiatives deemed poor by the students. For many years university students were a thorn in the side of the government of the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF Party.

Today the university has dismally lost its status mainly due to a poor national economy that saw untold brain drain of experienced and outstanding lecturers. The University of Zimbabwe administration also failed to keep the university infrastructure in good standing. Student hostels were run down without any form of maintenance let alone repair to an extent they became inhabitable forcing the government to close residence halls.

Due to demonstrations by students for better learning conditions the university constantly closed down and missed academic schedules and exam deadlines. At one point the University of Zimbabwe failed to open for an entire year resulting in failure to enrol a new freshman class. Its lime light was lost to other better performing universities in Zimbabwe such as Africa University and National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo.
UZ was also seriously plagued by water problems which also made it very difficult for students to live on campus. As a result an international humanitarian agency - UNDP- installed water tanks and drilled water wells as those found in rural Zimbabwe to help students access water.

As of 2010, as the Zimbabwe economy shows signs of recovery, the university is also working hard to retain its international once sought after status. This will however obviously take many years to restore. Without further political interference at the top executives of the university the recovery could be sooner than later. President Robert Mugabe is the Chancellor of the University and has executive control over its most important decisions. All these are factors that will influence the university's road to recovery

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