Great Zimbabwe University: The Making Of the University of Choice

Abstract

This chapter traces the trajectory taken by the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) from humble beginnings. The chapter focuses on the antecedents to what became the GZU, starting as the Masvingo Degree Programme of the University of Zimbabwe in 1999, becoming the Masvingo University College of the University of Zimbabwe (2000), then Masvingo State University (2002) and finally morphing into the Great Zimbabwe University in 2007. The chapter pays particular attention to the key changes, historical periods and actors that fundamentally shaped the establishment of the institution as well as the early vision that anchored the new institution. The birth of Great Zimbabwe University is located within the broader national goal of decentralising higher education and the promotion of regional development. The chapter, among other things, discusses the role played by the University of Zimbabwe, tireless efforts of the then Minister of Higher Education, Dr Stan Mudenge, and the institution's first Vice Chancellor Prof Obert Maravanyika in the early days of the University. Through interviews, archival sources, and documentary analysis, the chapter unpacks how the GZU overcame the birthing challenges it faced and cultivated its identity, and in the process, establishing itself as one of the top universities in the country.