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.
“In addition, the following programmes await ZIMCHE accreditation — BSc in Crop Sciences, BSc Horticulture, BSc Agricultural Engineering, BSc Agribusiness Management, Master of Science in Agroecology and Master of Science in Tourism and Hospitality Management and Leisure Sciences.
“These programmes intend to produce cadres capable of fully utilising hospitality and tourism as well as the agricultural wealth endowment and potential in the province and nation at large,” he said.
Prof Chawanda said their staff and students are working on potentially ground-breaking innovations leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“Some of these projects include (the) Driver Sleep Detection System whose overall aim is to address the perennial road carnage; Autonomous Vehicle Assistance Road Detection Signage, to also address road carnage challenges; Curios and Crafts Mobile Application to aid marketing of tourism products; and Smart Home Security System.
“I am happy, Your Excellency and Chancellor, to report that the university has secured a number of grants for various research projects — including the development of percolation leaching process for optimum Gold Recovery Technology with an efficiency rate of 80 percent for artisanal and small-scale gold mining; and the Sawmill Waste Biomass Energy Valorisation Project with U$56 000 support from the Research Council of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Prof Chawanda said the varsity secured strategic partnerships with the University of the Russian Federation; Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences of Germany; Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on cooperation, knowledge sharing on technology-driven agriculture and innovation, research collaborations, staff and student exchange.
He also gave an update of infrastructural development at multi-campus across the province.
“In line with NDS1 and the need to enhance food security, the university, through your support, is in the process of equipping the Headlands Innovation and Agro-Industrial Park. This is being carried out in phases — Phases 1 and 2 included capacitation through equipmentation to ensure large scale large-scale agricultural production, which has resulted in 210ha being under irrigation. Phase 3 will involve establishing an agro-processing and value addition plant as well as establishing the Makoni Community Out-growers Scheme to uplift livelihoods in the immediate surrounding community,” he said, adding that construction of two 100-bed residence halls and staff houses has started at the Fernhill campus.
The university was established through the Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences Act Chapter 25:31 of 2016 in line with the Government policy to have a State university in each province, and it has adopted a multi-campus set-up in each district in the province to achieve its mandate.
As part of its strategic thrust and mandate to contribute to the sustainable economic development of Zimbabwe through intensive utilisation of land, value addition and beneficiation of the country’s mineral wealth and other natural resources, the MUAS started off with four major faculties — Engineering, Applied Sciences and Technology, Agribusiness Management and Applied Social Sciences.
Professor Chawanda said this was the institution’s second graduation ceremony and plans were underway to increase the number of programmes on offer including postgraduate programmes.
In it’s quest to become a research beacon, sensitive to the needs of the communities the university exists in, MSUAS is intensifying it’s research outputs and a deliberate course of action has been taken so as to meaningfully contribute to the development of Zimbabwe.
Drawing from it’s rich human capital, the university is offering technical consultancy services to organisations in the province at the same time generating new knowledge in line with Education 5.0, which strives to champion innovation and creativity; and positioning varsities as key economic enablers and drivers.
Herald
