wfn.org | Africa University seeks ways to reach across continent

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

Feb. 22, 1999        Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71BP{096}

NOTE:  Photographs are available with this story.

A UMNS News Feature
By Tim Tanton*

OLD MUTARE, Zimbabwe - A century ago, a Methodist bishop went to the peak of
a mountain in what was then called Rhodesia and dreamed that he saw young
people streaming into the valley below from all directions.

Bishop Joseph Crane Hartzell envisioned students from all over Africa
attending a university in that valley near Mutare.

"What we see as Africa University today, we see as a fulfillment of that
dream," said Vice Chancellor Rukudzo Murapa.

Today, just as Hartzell saw people coming from all directions to attend
school, Africa University itself is moving outward in many directions to
serve the continent for which it is named.

The university is interested in linking up with other schools around Africa
to offer programs. Plans are also being made to launch two new departments,
or faculties of study. And construction is under way on a library, faculty
housing and other buildings.

Chartered in 1992 and opened in '94, the United Methodist-related school has
grown from an initial enrollment of 40 students to 784 for the current
academic year. The number of African nations represented by the student body
has increased from 11 to 18 since its opening.

"It is a university with very unique features, at least on the African
continent," Murapa said.
It is the first school in Zimbabwe to be credited as a private university
and the first United Methodist-related institution of higher learning in
Africa. Its creation set into motion other denominations that have either
started colleges in Zimbabwe or have them on the drawing board, he said.

And Africa University is an international university, Murapa said. "It is
the only university I know of on the African continent that is specifically
created to be transnational."

The school opened with two departments of study, one focusing on theology
and the other on agriculture and natural resources. Today, it offers three
additional fields of study: management and administration; education; and
humanities and social sciences.

By 2004, the school will have at least seven faculties, Murapa said. An
international planning committee is studying the feasibility of setting up a
school of medicine and dentistry, and work is under way for a faculty of
science and technology.

The school wants to launch a second phase in which its presence would be
felt in Kenya, Malawi, Congo, Sierra Leone - the subregion -- to explore
linkages with other institutions on the continent.

"Already, we are laying the ground floor ... for the satellite campuses in
the Congo," said Bishop Arthur F. Kulah. In Liberia, the university also has
obtained a charter from the government for a satellite campus, he said.

Kulah, along with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho of Angola, was instrumental in
Africa University's creation through his role as a governing member of the
United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

However, Murapa and the university staff are cautious about discussing
possible plans for satellite campuses.

"Even the talk of satellite campuses must be pursued with caution because
you don't want to jump into the deep end until you know how to swim well,"
Murapa said.

The school has set up an outreach office to explore possible linkages with
national institutions on the continent. A joint program, for example, might
allow Africa University to offer a diploma or certificate to students who do
the actual course work at another school.

Last June, the school launched the first training program in emergency
response and management on the continent. The program is being offered in
partnership with the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Action by
Churches Together, a global, ecumenical organization.

One problem area, Murapa said, is having uniform requirements for students
who come from different nations where the academic systems are all
different. Africa University has been involved in the creation of a national
council of higher education in Zimbabwe, a group of universities that meets
to align policies.

Signs of growth are evident around the campus. The school is building a $5
million library, with help from the U.S. Agency for International
Development. It is to be complete by August 2000.

The second phase of the new library will be a state-of-the-art
communications center, which will allow the school to beam programs by
satellite into other countries and households. Through the center, the
school will seek to become part of the African Virtual University network,
said Andra Stevens, director of information. The virtual university is a
World Bank-related project linking schools around the continent, including
the University of Zimbabwe. The network enables the schools to provide
education and training resources to Africans in distant communities.

The university also will be building student residence halls with funds
donated by the North Indiana Annual (regional) Conference and Ben Hill
United Methodist Church in Atlanta. In addition, 13 prefabricated offices
are being built in a move aimed at easing the shortage of office space. And
Volunteers in Mission workers will build two staff houses. 

The school is planning on putting a meditation park on the top of the
mountain and a game park on the other side of it, Murapa said.

The London-based Commonwealth Secretariat is helping the school establish an
executive master's of business administration, or EMBA, program. "We have
now come up with a design for that MBA program," said Gordon Draper,
international management consultant with the secretariat. The plan will be
presented to local business groups for comment, he said.

The program also is being planned for expansion into Botswana and the
northern province of South Africa, Draper said. The 2000 academic year is
being considered as the point where an outside campus could be introduced,
he said.

The school's existing MBA program tends to cater more to recent graduates,
Draper said. The EMBA will be geared more to mid- and senior-level
executives who have been out of school for a few years, and to people with
degrees in other fields.

Draper, who recently made his first visit to Africa University, said he was
"very impressed" with the school and its vision for the future.

Along with the excitement of growth, the school also faces challenges.

"We are entering a period that is likely to prove very difficult," Murapa
said in a recent meeting with a group of visitors, including a United
Methodist News Service reporter.

One challenge is providing transportation for students. Africa University
can only house about 55 percent of its students on campus, and the city of
Mutare is a long drive away, Murapa said. A bus is needed for the school.

Another critical need is for more teaching space. The school was built with
two faculties, and now it has five. "With five faculties, that makes the
others squatters -- unwelcome squatters," the vice chancellor said.

"The student numbers simply cannot fit in the classrooms that we have," he
said. "We are now having to use the chapel for large classes. We are looking
for support in building an academic teaching complex."

As a denomination-supported school, Africa University feels the impact from
shortfalls in apportionment contributions - the money paid by each
conference and church to support common programs and administration. The
university is working toward getting off the general church's budget,
Stevens said. The goal for its endowment fund is $30 million, she said.

Although the school is United Methodist-related, only about 35 percent of
the students are members of the denomination, Stevens said. Murapa expects
the number of Muslim students to increase, especially as the school recruits
students from nations such as Senegal.

The school's charter was designed to ensure that the student body includes
people from other countries. Not more than 40 percent of the students should
be from Zimbabwe.

Bridget Elba, a ministry student, is one of many non-Zimbabweans at the
school. Going to the university meant leaving her family and teaching
position behind in Sierra Leone. She misses her family, she said, "but I
have not regretted coming to Africa University." After she graduates this
year, she plans to return home and teach.

Elba's interest in Africa University was sparked at the school's opening
ceremony, which she attended as one of two women sent by the Sierra Leone
Annual Conference and the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries. When she saw the school, she said to herself: "I think I
would like to be a part of this dream."

The school's enrollment is expected to be 1,145 by the year 2000, Stevens
said. About 150 will graduate in May, followed by about 250 the following
year.

Despite the numbers, the unmet needs are great.

"We see so much that hasn't been done," Stevens said. For example, 14,000
young people applied for university admission in Zimbabwe last year, but the
country's schools don't have the capacity for even 5,000 university
students, she said. "For us sitting here, all we can see is we're supposed
to serve this massive constituency, and we're nowhere near doing that yet."

# # #

*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

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