President caps 172 MSUAS graduates
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa capped 172 graduates at the Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences’ (MSUAS) second graduation ceremony at its Fernhill Campus in Mutare yesterday.
The President was accompanied by the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Professor Amon Murwira and other ministers.
This year’s graduation had a 51 percent rise from last year’s 114 graduates. Of the 172, who graduated, 48 percent were female.
Thirty-one students graduated with awards, including six with first class degrees of which three were females.
The best male student was Motion Hazvinandawa (BSc Honours degree in Applied Statistics) with 33 distinctions, while Joynah Jimias was the best female student graduating with a BSc Information Systems Honours degree with 25 distinctions.
The two won various awards, including the Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Chancellor’s Award of US$1 000 each.
Other students that graduated with distinctions were Elias Dhliwayo (BCom in Business Management Honours degree), Prosper Teramai Tsangamidzi (BCom in Accounting Hons degree), Ishel Basera (BEng in Mining and Mineral Processing Hons degree) and Jessica Nokwanda
Ncube (BSc in Psychology Hons. The four received the Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Chancellor’s Award of U$500 each.
MSUAS Vice Chancellor, Professor Albert Chawanda said 70 percent of their 1 225 student enrolment was in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
“The university’s vision of being a research intensive and stakeholder-driven university recognised internationally for its quality and relevance in technological innovation, entrepreneurial endeavours, modernisation and industrialisation is anchored on a robust human capital strength.
“Of the 110 members of the teaching staff, 19 are PhD holders whilst the rest are at various stages of the PhD studies.
“Efforts to attract professors and other high calibre staff to beef up the staff complement are underway. The university has also embarked on an aggressive Staff Development Fellowship as a strategy to guarantee a steady flow of requisite human capital to man the critical areas such as mining, metallurgy and chemical and processing engineering, among others,” he said.
Prof Chawanda said the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) had accredited various degree programmes that were aligned to the Heritage-based Education 5.0 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) 1.
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