wfn.org | Graduates reveal Africa University's special strengths

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 29,  1998	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{330}

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.
# # #

*Stevens is Africa University's director of information.

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