The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
A Sports and Recreation Commission initiative to offer a sports diploma throughout the country has been put on ice after the regulatory body failed to meet procedures required by academic partner, National University of Science and Technology (Nust).
The move has left students who completed the initial two-year course disappointed as they did not receive their diplomas despite completing the course and paying full fees.
One of the students, renowned football coach, Dumaza Dube revealed they were not given transcripts for the second year and this has left them failing to include their studies in their CVs as they have no proof of completing the studies.
“As students, we met our end of the bargain as we paid all the fees required to complete, attended the requisite amount of classes, completed the required class work so we feel hard done by the fact that we are yet to receive our diplomas.
“It is more like a wasted two years for us and continuous enquiry have yielded no positive results. We completed the course in 2009 and we had been hoping that had there been any problems they would have been rectified by now and we would have graduated,” he said.
SRC Sports Training and Volunteer Services Officer Linnet Nyakunu said Nust cited some technical issues concerning the course that needed to be rectified but did not elaborate on those issues.
“There are some criteria that Nust said we have to meet and as an organisation our quality control section is seized with the matter and we hope to continue offering the course,” she said.
Sources at Nust indicated the course was being conducted without following academic procedures hence they could not certify it as credible and a true reflection of the standards offered by Nust.
“In the academic world we are particular about various procedures such as the learning and conduction of the examinations.
We could not verify as Nust these were held properly and in accordance with our dictates.
“The course put the credibility of the institution on the line hence the SRC was asked to look at the concerns and rectify them,” said the source.
Nust Sports Science and Coaching department chairperson, Sipho Rutsate said the course was still to be approved.
“The course has to go through the faculty before being looked at by the department and then approved by the academic board. It is in the pipeline.
“I think the first and only course was held when the two bodies (SRC and Nust) signed an MoU but that was not enough as it had to go through the full approval process,” she said.
Course modules included Community Sports Leader, Sports Safety, Anatomy and Physiology, Sports and Recreation, Sports Planning, Sports Psychology, Theory of coaching and training, Biomechanics, Adapted PES, Sports Marketing and Media, Facility Management, Olympism and Ethics and a research project.
According to the SRC, candidates who completed the programme may be eligible to apply for under-graduate programmes at the Zimbabwe Open University to undertake Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education and Sport and Bachelor of Science Sport Science and Coaching.
