AU on growth trajectory
AFRICA UNIVERSITY (AU) will expand projects under the Education 5.0 model in 2024, with the institution set to establish a solar farm to make it independent from the national power grid, The Sunday Mail has learnt.
Introduced by the Second Republic, Education 5.0 encourages universities to engage in outcomes-focused national development activities for a modern and industrialised Zimbabwe.
In a wide-ranging interview with this publication, AU vice chancellor Professor Peter Mageto said the year 2023 is ending on a high note for the institution after it produced its highest number of graduates.
Of the record 954 graduates, 54 percent were females, highlighting the Pan-African university’s deliberate ambition to empower women to take up leadership positions across the continent.
Prof Mageto said having become one of the first universities to set up an innovation hub in the country, AU will continue to thrive in the area of innovations. He revealed that over US$1 million has been budgeted for the
THE expansion of the Feruka pipeline from a throughput of 6 million litres to over 8 million litres per day is part of a long-term plan to turn the country into a regional hub for storage and distribution of petroleum products, a Cabinet minister has said.
This initial phase of the expansion is expected to end in the first quarter of next year. In an interview during a tour of Feruka’s premises in Mutare last week, Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo said: “There are prospects of an upgrade of the pipeline so that, as Zimbabwe, we become a hub in the Southern African region in terms of storage and distribution of petroleum products.
“The expansion is a very important project in terms of our strategic positioning as a
Manicaland-based university’s solar farm.
“We would like to see the university out of the national grid. As an institution, we are going to invest in this (solar farm) and also look for investors who can assist us. An important aspect about this solar farm is that it can serve as a training centre for students.”
He said the AU will give priority to boosting its endowment fund to ensure the institution does not rely on tuition fees alone.
“We did launch the Africa University Endowment Fund and we want to grow the fund in the coming year. The fund is not for the university to pay salaries but to enable us to grow. As we grow, we will also be able to have more grants and scholarships to students. We will also grow the skills of our staff and be more empowered to embark on more inventions, all through the surplus that comes from the endowment fund.”
Prof Mageto, who took over as AU’s substantive vice chancellor in March 2022, said in 2023, the institution scored some notable successes, including launching of the School of Law, and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
“We got the opportunity to launch the School of Law after going through very serious regulatory issues and requirements. We believe we are the best school of law. We believe it is founded on certain critical and universal values.
“This year, we established again the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. One of the programmes under this college is artificial intelligence (AI). This is all part of continuing to embrace STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.
“Our education is changing very fast. The future of AU is set to operate within that landscape. Even with the transition that is coming in with AI, Africa University is set to play that role very well. We trust that we are leading from the front.”
Prof Mageto said the university has a number of new infrastructure projects that are taking shape, including construction of a new hostel that will house more than 92 female students.
The innovations being undertaken by the AU under Education 5.0 include a national programme that has been embraced by Government to control malaria. The institution is also working with organisations such as UNICEF, the Mastercard Foundation and University of Bremen on research and innovations that will positively impact people’s lives.