ZIMBABWE Open University (ZOU) Vice-Chancellor Primrose Kurasha yesterday accused other universities offering block release programmes of producing half-baked graduates.
BY OBEY MANAYITI
Kurasha told Higher Education deputy minister Godfrey Gandawa during a visit to ZOU Mutare offices, that hers was the only institution with a legal mandate to offer distant and open learning.
“Those (other universities doing block release) are vendors and that type of education is creating problems and people are leaving institutions half-baked,” she said.
She said the two weeks that students on block release undergo lectures was inadequate to make them fully-fledged graduates.
Gandawa praised ZOU for reaching out to remote students.
“Having seen the negative publicity of ZOU and knowing what His Excellency President Robert Mugabe wants regarding this institution, I have taken it upon myself to visit all ZOU centres.
“ZOU is a giant that is lying. It must be a giant that rises and shows that it is a giant in itself,” he said, adding that the institution should take advantage of the unique mandate it has on distance learning. Gandawa also challenged all universities in the country to shift focus from being theoretical and produce practical-oriented graduates.
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He said researchers should move away from the idea of holding workshops but go on the ground and research on real problems affecting corporates in the country and practical ways of dealing with corruption. Gandawa also challenged ZOU to look into ways of producing specialised personnel who would deal with students with special needs in schools.
