University of Zimbabwe, Harare

Monday 19^th March

Before we left Cape Town we were called “disillusioned” and were warned about being disappointed. “What more can you learn, that you can’t interpret from the statistics?” So we left our expectations behind.

Today we woke up and Kristen, myself and Martin assembled ourselves by 10am. So we (Kristen and I) really didn’t have a plan, other than to get there.

It turns out that the University of Harare is about 8km from the house we were staying at. We set off by foot. Lucky for us, we were offered a lift 500 meters down the road, and the driver literally dropped us off at the university. I sat in the back of the bakkie, making a make-shift map (bumpy road edition) which would help us get back home.

University of Zimbabwe

The campus was massive. It has all of the faculties and department that the University of Cape Town has, plus more - “Department of Timber Research” and “Department of Mining Research” to name a few.

We visited the Engineering building, Computer Science building, Economics and Politics buildings, quietly and nervously. Classes were in session, and echos travelled down corridors. What were we looking for? Popping heads in and out of classrooms, nervous hellos, tip-toeing down quiet office corridors. Why did we feel like illegal immigrants?

So Kristen broke the ice, the way she always does. We found a group of five 3^rd year girls outside the “Food Science” building, and made friends. We discovered that food science and food nutrition are NOT the same – they’re like chalk and cheese. (Electrical Engineers feel the same way about Civil Engineers!) She was given a hair clip, and taught how to tie her hair up. She looks so beautiful. Half an hour later we were all laughing and dancing, and Kristen was invited to see a student’s residence.

Martin and I found a staff cafeteria - a room full of couches and tables – where for $2.00 we could get a plate of pap, beef stew and spinach. Martin has been in a relationship for 8 years, and although the two of them still don’t share finances, they consider themselves in a committed relationship. So we had a nice hour chat about marriage, and the differences between SA, USA and Germany. Getting married has opened us up to another shelf of deep conversations, which I look forward to over the next few years.

Full of food, we plucked up the courage to prepare a few questions, and afforded ourselves a few expectations.

After lunch, we had impromptu meetings with the Chair of the Economics department, the Assistant Registrar for the University, and an Administrative Assistant for the Politics department.  We learned that the University of Zimbabwe requires all students to take a Linguistics course (something that introduces academic writing and reading and assists with English language skills) and all Political Science students are required to take a research methods course – two things which we haven’t found at UCT.  Kristen was especially interested in this because she has helped to set up a supplementary reading/writing course at UCT over the past 2 years.

Lesson to be learnt for UCT: You may be rated the best university in Africa, but you can still learn a lot from other African universities! Zim’s education system was rated the best in Africa 15 years ago, and that was for a reason.

We tried to meet with the Dean of Students (something we were recommended to do by the Assistant Registrar), but he was in a meeting and we’re pencilled in for tomorrow.  Instead, we spoke with the Deputy Dean of Students. Face to face with a Dean, we quickly learned that information is still being carefully shared, and that we needed to have checked in with the “Department of International Relations” and someone in the department of “Information Protocol”, to be assigned a “guide”, before asking questions around the university. Oops.

Fees -- $400 per term for tuition and $400 per term for student housing, including meals 3 times a day.  The Chair of the Economics department told us that the University used to not charge fees for students.  They have since seen a reduction in attendance.  Also, the Economics Chairman told us that the recent economic crisis in Zimbabwe has caused many lecturers to leave and they are currently understaffed as a result.

Day 1 – we definitely considered a success.  We plan to go again tomorrow, but will save the visit to the “Department of Information Protocol” till the end.