Harare — THE University of Zimbabwe opened last week for the 2010 first semester amid growing concerns among students, parents and guardians over the deteriorating standards at the country's oldest and biggest learning institution. Our reporter, Fortious Nhambura (FN) caught up with the Vice Chancellor of the institution Professor Levy Nyagura (LN) to find out his thoughts about the college. Below is the question and answer session he had with Prof Nyagura on a variety of issues.

Halls of residence at the campus have been closed for nearly two years now with the university saying it is refurbishing. How far has the exercise gone and when do we expect students to start using them?

We had students here in 2007 spilling into 2008 and when things became difficult because there was no water, the rehabilitation of the halls of residence stopped in August of 2007 and we could not complete everything that we had planned. Consequently, it made it very difficult for us to have students. Remember the last time we had students, they were cooking on their own because the kitchens had not been completed.

At one time, we were cooking all the food at the workers' canteen and then carrying it to the hostels by trucks. Students started complaining that the food was cold and now this and that yet we were trying really hard to make do in order for the students to have something to eat.

You know we have a dining hall that was burnt, way back in 2007 and has not been repaired up to now. It is only this year that we got money from Government for the repairs. In June last year, I went before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education talking about why the university was closed. I made it abundantly clear that in addition to water problems, we suspended the refurbishment of the halls of residence and the situation that was obtaining was that the majority of the kitchens were in a bad state.

If you look at Swinton, Manfred Hodson and Carr Saunders these were residences put up right at the beginning, in the 60s. Imagine kitchen equipment installed in the 60s and still trying to provide services now. In fact the university is still using kitchen equipment installed in the 20th century while we are in the 21st century.

That is the reason why we have no students. It's not that students cannot go and use the study bedrooms, they can do that but we cannot prepare enough food for them.

Can you bring 4 200 students into residents and fail to feed them? What do you think is likely to happen -- demonstration, destruction of property, injury to personal property of staff and I cannot rule out the possibility of some of the staff being injured.

So the most logical thing to do when you have serious financial problems is to carefully look after what you have. That is what we are trying to do, we are not trying to create a situation where students will be given an opportunity to destroy property. It will not be useful to the institutions and to the public not to mention Government. So you know that is the reason why the halls of residence are not being used right now

Has the Government released the money for refurbishment of the hostels?

I got a letter from Government last Tuesday that it was now giving us the money to refurbish the kitchens. The money was given through the Public Sector Investments Programme but it is inadequate but at least it's a good intervention. For them to give us US$2,5m to pay attention to the halls of residence, this is what was supposed to have been done in 2007.

The ministry knew of the problem since 2007 but it was difficult for Government to have money and consequently all these programmes had to be suspended. So in 2007, I called all the six contractors that were on campus and told them that we were suspending all PSIP projects because we had now run out of money. We do not enjoy seeing our students staying in all sorts of wrong places, unsuitable accommodation. That's not what we are interested in, we are interested in the best being provided for our students.

The college lost part of its staff during the difficult years leading to the closure of some departments. Does the university still have enough lecturers to deliver its mandate

We have suffered a lot during the years of economic problems but have continued to recruit. We have also continued to rely on our external partners. There are a number of universities both within Sadc and beyond who understand the role that the UZ plays not just nationally or regionally but internationally. There are lots of people who want us to sustain this good work we have been doing for the past 55 years.

How is the institution managing to sustain its operations?

We have visiting lecturers who come from institutions that believe in what we do. They come from the University of Zambia, Copperbelt University, University of Lesotho and Swaziland.

We then have people coming from outside Africa to work here. I must also mention that we have visiting professors from Egypt. All these people have continued to support the standard of delivery that we are famous for, training in quality education which, has always resulted in the production of quality graduates.

Now we even have visiting lecturers from China. You will be surprised that we even have visiting lecturers from the USA and the United Kingdom. Academics are not like politicians, they are driven by the genuine desire to promote the sharing of knowledge, to partner in creation of new knowledge and partner in perfecting existing knowledge so that we have something we are contributing to society.

I must also point out that Zimbabwe has a large pool of educated people in various areas in engineering, education, medicine, natural sciences and agriculture.

We greatly appreciate all these contributions and we are thankful that Zimbabwe embarked on a policy of promoting education to an extent that we have lots of qualified people in the private sector. And these individuals have been coming in to make contributions to the training of students.

This is how the institution has managed to provide quality training in various programmes that it offers

Many students are failing to register for the first semester citing financial problems. Can you explain why students are not willing to take advantage of the Government cadetship programme?

I cannot explain why most students are refusing Government money. They must be getting some information from wrong quarters and I will suspect one such a quarter is likely to be the Zimbabwe National Students Union. If you examine the composition of the leadership of Zinasu, it is made up of people who have been expelled from universities. It will be interesting to ask the Zinasu leadership to parade their university qualifications.

Do they have degree certificates that they can boast of and say I completed my degree from UZ, from the National University of Science and Technology or Chinhoyi etc?

So who do they represent? They are representing people who have failed to make the grade in universities. People, who have failed, people who are now angry because of their intellectual deficiencies and this is why they want to fight universities because they think universities should have given them honorary degrees. We are not going to give them honorary degrees.

You need to be someone who is an asset to the society not a curse to the society for you to get such recognition. So we will never recognise them. If they want these degrees they should go back and work very hard. They should not try to divert the attention of the bright students we have who have remained focussed, committed and who are genuine intellectual scholars. Why do they want to disrupt their education?

I have heard some say they should get the money just like people who got farms. Let me say I have never heard of a person who was given a farm who has taken it outside Zimbabwe. If they know of such a farmer it will be a good case study for academics at UZ.

So if on getting a farm in Zimbabwe, you are expected to till the land in Zimbabwe, not outside Zimbabwe. If you are getting education, given money to get your education in Zimbabwe then its is natural to expect you to use your knowledge in Zimbabwe.

So what is wrong in using Government money and then using your knowledge to help your own fellow man? Imagine if you were to train medical doctors and they all disappear and go to serve people in other countries while their own mothers, sisters and fathers are perishing because of lack of qualified medical personnel. Would you consider that to be a sensible thing for anyone to do?

All we can say is that focussed people should not listen to negative minds. This is free money for them to be trained in Zimbabwe and then serve Zimbabwe. Is this not in line with the principles of Government.

The Government is simply asking them to work in Zimbabwe for a time equal to period of training, not even in Government departments but anywhere in the country.

What is the role that parents and the private sector play in university education

We want parents to come in to support their children, donors, NGOs, the private sector to come in too because even though the cadetship money is there, you still need other players to partner Government in training of students. Parents and guardians are important players. They should not sit and say this is now the responsibility of Government. It is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that we are producing leaders of tomorrow, leaders who are knowledgeable and disciplined.

Are there payment plans or is the college prepared to defer payment until a later date?

No. We have a number of things that require money. This is the money that we use for the day to day running of the institution. It is international practice that when students register, they pay what is due at the beginning of each academic year or semester so as to empower the institution to sustain high standards of academic excellence.

That is why we need the money. You can't go to a university outside Zimbabwe and expect to attend lectures without paying. Anywhere in Africa or even Europe students can only attend lectures after paying. We are using the best practices as observed by all the good universities worldwide

There are allegations that the university is compromising the future of students by failing to release results on time. What could be the reason?

No, we don't fail to release results. We have never failed to release results. There are universities in this country that take six months to release results. I have heard some students who say we are still waiting for our results and that is six months down the line.

UZ will not take more than the required time, because we do a thorough assessment of any piece of work our students do. That is in line with best practices and strategies of maintaining and guaranteeing quality. You can not just do a random job. There is need for thorough screening of every piece of work that every student submits.

And we don't take more than four weeks to do that. The students are our cherished customers and there is no way we will not show sensitivity to them. We will not rush the examination process because it has to be thorough. That is in line with the quality assurance systems we have put in place

There are media reports that the university is bankrupt. If so, how is the institution taking care of its staff and managing the day to day running of its operations?

If you don't come and talk to people concerned and make sweeping statements no one will pay attention to those reports. For 2010, the Government gave us US$7,782 million for our recurrent expenses and we were given over US$3,9 million for the PSIP projects. I would not go to the streets and say we are bankrupt, we are in the red. That would not make sense.

The university is not in the red. As a State institution, we have funds that have been allocated to us by Government. The money might not be enough but we are not bankrupt. We would expect more as the funds will empower us to do things in a much more excellent way, buy books for students, repair all printing and photocopiers in the machines and pay people well so that they don't think of running away.

What is the university doing to retain the staff that has remained committed to the institution?

These people are not getting salaries but allowances from Government. This is why I need money to pay these people to come to work. We need to beef up the allowances they are getting. This is one of the major reasons why we need students to pay what is due to us so that we are able to pay these committed members who have remained with us. We must recognise their loyalty, commitment and dedication to work.

On those that have left the institution, what is the institution doing to entice them back?

Like I said, my first concern is not about people who have left but those who I have. The people, who have remained loyal and committed to the institution, those people who resolved that they wanted to be part of the solution. Those who left have left. I don't need to worry about them. I have to worry about the people I have now, that is my priority group.

We need to improve the conditions of service for them so that they have better conditions of living, they are able to send their children to good schools and pay for their utility bills

Those who attended UZ in the past are saying it has lost its lustre and that the education standards have gone down. What is your comment?

I don't know what instruments they are using to measure that. One public indicator we have of the quality of products we are producing is the scramble for UZ graduates by many countries in Africa and outside. Our degree certificate is an international passport to any country in the world even to those countries that don't speak English.

If that was truly the case, then it means UZ standards are still very high relative to standards of countries that are taking our graduates.

Yes, the university does not have enough money to buy books but we have put in place an internet service which opens doors to our students to vast seas of academic resources, e-books, e-journals and various academic articles from all over the world. Our students now have greater exposure to academic services than what the old students had.

In fact, we are now producing a much more superior graduate than we were doing before. We are producing a graduate who can fit in the global village and not only the local.

UZ students are doing well locally and have gone to do exceptionally well in international competitions. They have done well in international competitions where they have come tops. It's okay for people to challenge us on our standards because such comments help us to self-assess ourselves and maintain the culture of quality

Having been in existence for the past 55 years now, the university obviously has movers and shakers in its alumni. To what extent have you gone to engage them to ensure that UZ retains its place as the university of choice in Zimbabwe?

We have made a lot of efforts to bring the alumni back to the institution but what I can say is among the black people in the country there are very few who understand the concept of giving back. It's not part of the tradition of the people of Zimbabwe to recognise the people and organisations that empowered them. It does not exist.

This is a new culture that the country has to develop. Such support we are getting it from white Zimbabweans who know and have a high regard of how the institution works.

I must also say I have now started seeing signs of the need to fulfill some social responsibilities among the people of Zimbabwe.

Where someone says I made a decision to support all fourth and fifth year medical students at the University of Zimbabwe, all their fees and accommodation.

It's a positive beginning and we wish if we can have more of these unique individuals who have gone beyond amassing personal wealth but are also using it to make Zimbabwe better.

I hope it's marking a new thinking, a new kind of attitude in Zimbabweans and to be more specific, black Zimbabweans.