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Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Jonathan Moyo

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Reporter—
THE Government has approved a $1 billion grant to fund the construction of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe University, the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Jonathan Moyo has said. In a statement yesterday, Prof Moyo said of the $1 billion grant, $200 million will go towards the establishment of the university’s Endowment Fund for Research and Innovation in Mazowe.

“The Ministry is pleased to advise that Cabinet has approved the establishment of The Robert Gabriel Mugabe University to be situated 36km north west of Harare in Mazowe district, Mashonaland Central. Cabinet has approved a grant of $800 million towards the construction of the university, and a grant of $200 million towards the establishment of the university’s endowment fund for research and innovation,” said Prof Moyo.

The Minister said the establishment of the university is in recognition of President Mugabe’s commitment to education and his exemplary leadership.

The responsible authority of the university is the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Foundation, whose Founding Trustees are President Mugabe and First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe.

The Robert Gabriel Mugabe University will be a STEM institution designed to facilitate the discovery of scientific, technological and engineering solutions to improve the quality of life and humanity in Zimbabwe.

“An important feature of the university will be The Robert Gabriel Mugabe Institute, which would focus on research, historical collections, library and studies on transformative and revolutionary leadership, thinking and attributes that shapes the man, Robert Gabriel Mugabe to evolve from humble beginnings into an iconic global leader,” said Prof Moyo.

He said the establishment of the university will be incubated by the University of Zimbabwe through a process to be coordinated and overseen by its Vice Chancellor, Professor Levi Nyagura.

Prof Moyo described President Mugabe as a nationalist, Pan Africanist, revolutionary, educationist, strategist and champion of the rights of the downtrodden the world over.

“The Ministry is privileged and excited about Cabinet’s decision to establish The Robert Mugabe University. There can be no better recognition of President Mugabe’s commitment to education and his exemplary leadership,” he said

The Minister said education and training anchored on STEM as a foundation is a catalyst for fast industrialisation and modernisation of the Zimbabwean economy.

“It is therefore, necessary to develop training programmes to produce super experts who become champions in the industrialisation and modernisation national agenda,” he said.

“It is thus proposed that the broad curriculum of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe University should concentrate on critical areas almost exclusively at the graduate level.

“These discipline cluster areas include computer engineering with sub-specialties in software engineering, hardware engineering, network engineering, data science, augmented reality engineering, internet of things, information technology etc.”

The proposed site of the university is located in the scenic Mazowe Valley.—@mashnets