staff writer

Enrolment at the Catholic University of Zimbabwe (CUZ) Hwange campus’ academic programmes has
started in earnest at the Diocese’s St Josephine Bakhita Primary School.
In an update, the Bishop of Hwange Diocese, Raphael Macebo Mabuza Ncube, said the diocese had
welcomed the university.
“We have welcomed the Catholic University of Zimbabwe into the Diocese, and it has opened its
doors in Victoria Falls from where it will, with time, spread to other parts of the Diocese,” said
Bishop Ncube.
He added, “St. Josephine Bakhita Primary School will be temporarily used as its Hwange Diocese
Campus.”
CUZ Vice Chancellor Professor Ranga Zinyemba was recently in Victoria Falls, announcing, to
parishes, the new diocesan institution.
He said the university is already discussing with the Victoria Falls City Council to get land to build a
permanent satellite campus in the tourism city.
In the meantime, lectures will be conducted at St. Josephine Bakhita until a full campus is built.
CUZ is a Catholic Church affiliated university established in 1999 in Harare. It started with just over
200 pioneer students. The overall student population has since grown to over 2 500.
The opening of the eighth campus is in line with CUZ’s 10-year strategic plan (2013-2023), whose
objective is to grow enrolment to about 10 000 students and open campuses in each of the church’s
dioceses countrywide.
“We had 280 students when we started, and we came up with the Catholic University of Zimbabwe
Growth and Development Strategic plan (2013 to 2023) that by the end of next year, we should be in
all the eight dioceses and grow enrolment. We have grown 10 times in numbers to over 2 500
students as we target 10 000,” said the Vice Chancellor.
Already there is a campus in each diocese. These include the Archdioceses of Bulawayo and Harare,
Dioceses of Gweru, Gokwe, Chinhoyi, Mutare and Masvingo.
Spreading to all parts of the country aims to bring tertiary education closer to the people and is in
keeping with the Zimbabwean Government’s policy of devolution and decentralisation.
The university offers four faculties: Commerce, Innovation and Technology; Education, Social
Sciences and Humanities; Theology, Ethics, Religious Studies and Philosophy as well as Graduate
Studies, Research and Innovation.
There have been calls for the institution to introduce tourism-related courses to get direct entry by
Victoria Falls residents whose main economy is tourism.