TradeInvest Africa (Cape Town)
8 January 2009
Investment opportunity: Construction and Materials Education
The Zambia Development Agency is promoting the establishment of a university of technology in order to expand higher education facilities in the country. The university will cater for local and foreign students.
Project name: Establishment of the Victoria Falls University of Technology (VUT).
Facilitator: Zambia Development Agency (ZDA).
Location of project: Plot 2621, Nakatindi Road, Livingstone, Southern Province.
Project description: The promoters seek to establish a university of science and technology to offer a range of programmes based on perceived demand in Zambia and neighbouring countries. VUT is envisioned to be managed on sound business principles, ensuring quality of education, while generating a reasonable profit.
Academic programmes will be structured around five thematic areas
1. Applied science and engineering
2. Information and communication engineering
3. Agricultural science and food technology
4. Energy and environmental studies
5. Languages, tourism and international relations
Proposed courses
• Full- time courses at undergraduate and diploma levels
• Part -time courses ranging from the short and topic specific
• Credit programmes leading to a post graduate qualification
Work completed: Maintenance and security personnel have been recruited to carry out rehabilitations. Short courses commenced in June 2008.
Available land and infrastructure
VUT has acquired 100 hectares of prime land in Kazungula for the development of a fully residential campus. In addition, a long-term lease (50 years) on an existing teaching facility has been obtained to enable a quick start to activities. The property was previously a government technical training institute for craftsmen and therefore has a layout of a purpose-built training establishment consisting of a library, 10 lecture rooms, administrative block, two laboratory space, 3 hostel blocks, clinic kitchen block and recreation room.
Status of the infrastructure
The buildings need extensive repair and refurbishment and preliminary work on this has already begun.
Other physical assets
Acquiring of furniture has commenced.
Utilities
Both leased campus and the 100 hectares of land have their frontage on Nakatindi road, the main highway. The leased campus has a borehole and is connected to Livingstone city electricity network. The underdeveloped land in Kazungula (within the Kazungula district council area), is already serviced with water and electricity. The campuses can access both land and mobile phone networks.
Expectations of project promoters
The promoters are inviting well established universities wishing to expand their business into untapped markets to a partnership under the following options:
1. Franchising or licensing academic programmes in areas of information and computing technologies, telecommunications, electrical engineering, energy management, agriculture engineering, food sciences, environmental sciences and tourism. This involves the provision of courses, assisting VUT conduct initial programmes, training of lecturers and monitoring of quality.
2. Franchising or licensing the academic programmes with a possibility to eventually do a joint venture.
3. A joint venture whose % could be negotiated
4. Another option is suppling of equipment such as computers, printers, copiers, projectors, video conferencing equipment, VSAT equipment for communications, physics, chemistry or languages laboratories, and kitchen equipment for tourism courses.
Availability of potential students
• There is a high number of deserving high school graduates who cannot be absorbed in the few existing universities due to inadequate capacity in these institutions. Furthermore, there is no existing university in Southern province within 300 kilometres of VUT.
• VUT's site is strategic in that it will easily tap into the market of neighbouring countries that lack universities dedicated to science and technology including Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Affordability
Direct indications of the willingness of students to pay a premium for good university education are manifested in the following:
• The significant costs parents are bearing in educating their children in foreign universities.
• The experience of Zambia's private tertiary non-degree colleges, notably in accountancy, which are able to attract foreign students
• The high value of a good education in Zambia
Marketing strategy
A detailed marketing strategy is available to potential investors.
Project justification
Government's Fifth National Development Plan 2006 -2010 assigns a central role to science and technology to the overall national vision - "a Zambia where science, technology and innovation are the driving forces in national development by 2030."
VUT's proposed programmes have themes structured around a recent government business initiative intended to promote economic areas considered to be of strategic importance to Zambia.
Though there has been strong government and public support for a university of science and technology, one has not materialised. VUT intends to fill this vacuum.
Incentives : The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Act, part 111 articles 55, 57 and 58 provides incentives for this type of investment.
Licences needed
• Accreditation of the university from the Ministry of Education
• Accreditation of the science and vocational training provision from the Ministry of Science and Technology.
For more information: http://www.tradeinvestafrica.com/investment_opportunities/917771.htm
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