wfn.org | Africa University forges ties with school in Mozambique

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

Feb. 10, 2000  News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.     10-31-71B{056}

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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United Methodist News Service
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