Zimbabwe

BACKGROUND and AIMS

CARA's Zimbabwe Programme was launched in 2009, in response to a marked increase in the number of academics fleeing Zimbabwe and reports of the dramatic decline in the quality of the higher education sector.

The Zimbabwe Programme aims to support the resurgence of Zimbabwe’s higher education sector as a beacon in southern Africa, central to which is the mitigation against the permanent and catastrophic loss to Zimbabwe of a major part of its academic capital that has been deprived of an academic future in country.

PROGRAMMES 

CARA/IOM Higher Education Consultations:

In early 2010, CARA and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) carried out the Zimbabwe Higher Education Consultations in Zimbabwe, the UK and South Africa, facilitating stakeholder discussions on the critical areas affecting Zimbabwe's academics and universities. These meetings resulted in the publication of a Consultations Findings Report detailing what role the Zimbabwean diaspora could potentially play in rebuilding Zimbabwe's higher education system.

In response to the results of the Higher Education Consultations, the programmes summarised below were launched in early 2011.

Faculty Grant and Re-engagement Fellowship Programme:

Wth funding from the Nuffield Foundation, a Grant and Fellowship Programme was launched in January 2011, to support beleaguered academics and the higher education institutions in country, piloted through the Health, Natural and Veteniary Sciences. 

Grants were awarded to various faculties across six of Zimbabwe's universities, to provide training and development opportunities for younger academic staff, through the purchase of equipment, teaching resources, access to e-Journals and specialist training. 

A few Fellowships were also awarded, to enable Zimbabwean academics in the diaspora to improve their skills,  re-engage with academia and identify areas in their home country where they could use their academic expertise and experience to advance social well-being. 

 

Virtual Lecture Hall Programme:

With funding from Econet Wirelss, a Virtual Lecture Hall Programme was established at the University of Zimbabwe in the summer of 2012. This project aims to reconnect academics in the diaspora with the College of Health Science and the Faculties of Science and Veterinary Science, through virtual means, thereby improving standards of teaching and research, and facilitating increased networking and collaboration. 

For further information on these projects, please contact CARA's office on 0207 021 0880 or zimbabwe.cara@lsbu.ac.uk.