The Sunday News
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has re-appointed Lupane State University Vice Chancellor Professor Pardon Kuipa for another term (five years) in office, effective 1 August 2019. Sunday News Senior Reporter Robin Muchetu (RM) caught up with Prof Kuipa (PK) last week where he shared his milestones and challenges since he joined the university in 2015. Below are excerpts of the interview.
RM: You have been appointed as VC for LSU for another five years, what does that mean to you?
PK: What it means is that it’s probably a show of confidence in what we have been doing ever since my appointment in 2015 and the success that we have scored. You remember that in 2015 the university was renting seven properties in Bulawayo and our rentals were averaging about $50 000 a month. When I came in with the new team, we had to renegotiate rental contracts with all landlords and we managed to reduce rentals significantly and that is big plus to me.
RM: What are some of the success stories that the university has had since your appointment?
PK: When I joined the university most of the staff members were acting so we then reconfigured so that they were appointed into substantial positions and we set up new structures as well. We had a limping internal audit function and we strengthened that function and as we speak today it is the envy of all institutions. Internally we derive our standards from Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) and I think they have done a wonderful job, you will also remember that when I joined in 2015 the university had four PhD holders, as we speak we now have 30 PhD holders which is a substantial increase in the four years that I have been here, it speaks to the fact that our students are now getting quality education.
RM: What other achievements did you score that are in line with your programmes?
PK: We managed to get a conservancy in Hwange; a wildlife conservancy from the Government which we think will strengthen our wildlife programme that we offer. We increased programme offerings to about 40 now and we also increased our presence, we now have a presence in Harare where we are offering three masters programmes, Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Policy and Human Resources and Accounting.
We are also planning a presence in Victoria Falls, we have already bought land there where we are going to situate our School of Hospitality and Tourism. We also now have about 170 hectares of land, very arable land next to Shangani River for the university’s usage for commercial purposes. We think we have done pretty well considering these achievements.
We have noticed that we are in a semi-arid region, we are in an almost desert area and the agricultural produce that can come out from a desert is very different compared to a region one area. Our programmes have been tailor made so that we are particularly focused on what can be grown in a semi-arid region. We are currently on a goat breeding project that has been financed by the research council to the tune of about half-a-million dollars. We think goats are resistant to droughts. From this project we will strengthen the lives of people within the province. Through this project we intend to go into artificial insemination projects for goats and sheep if possible.
We also have been breeding a variety of chickens that can prosper in a hot and arid region. We have also introduced programmes in biotechnology that can fit into the areas that I have been talking about in terms of the goat breeding projects. They can be applied in the biotechnology programmes that we introduced.
We introduced programmes in plant breeding and animal breeding and we think these are very necessary for the type of projects which we think can grow the economy of the province. There is a lot that the university can do in order to drive the economy and we have applied to the Government through the Ministry of Lands (Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement) for land to set up an industrial park and innovation park and the minister has been very forthcoming and they have met our request and given us 20 hectares of land on which we think we can incubate industries and we can also incubate ideas from our students and staff members. These will go a long way in growing the GDP of the province.
RM: What are your prospects for Matabeleland North Province where the university falls?
PK: The vision is to be a premier institution in Zimbabwe where the best lecturers and the best non-teaching staff and the best students in Zimbabwe aspire to be, that’s our vision and to be the engine for economic prosperity within Matabeleland North Province and we are going to achieve that through production of the necessary human resource to achieve economic prosperity for the region and Zimbabwe in general.
We think that we have the critical human capital resource that the province would require for its devolution exercise, remember the Government is talking about devolution and what it entails is that we will have a regional domestic policy and in order to generate a domestic policy, there has to be economic activity and this activity comes from new ideas and new industries being generated within the province. It means that our human capital strength can generate these activities in terms of ideas and I think we have the capacity to do that.
You noticed that the region is very rich in terms of cultural heritage so what we have done as a university is to implement new programmes that cater for that. We have programmes such as media and television programmes and we think that can capture that strength to earn the province money and so that we can use it as one of the pillars that of growth for the provincial GDP.
I am a commissioner for Lupane Local Board and have been the commissioner for the past three or four years. Being in that board has strengthened the board in terms of the direction that the Lupane town can grow towards and also in terms of ideas for funding of projects and the like.
The university has a very central role for Lupane both as a town and also as a district. When I came in we also bought land in Jotsholo and I think that the land will go a long way in growing Jotsholo as a sub town or growth point so those are the plans that we have for the province. Like I said before the Victoria Falls Town Council offered us land and we are going to put a hotel school there for our students that are studying tourism and we think through that interface we will be able to participate in the Victoria Falls economy as well.
RM: There have been surveys done which indicate that qualifications from your university are being shunned in the work place. How far true is that?
PK: It is not a true reflection that our degrees are being shunned, as we are a premier university and our graduates are highly preferred by employers and that research was not done in a scientific manner in a sense that those who were approached are of industries that our students are not in. It is normal for them to say they have never heard of a Lupane State University student but if you were to approach newsrooms and NGOs where our students are stationed after completion of their studies you would get a different view altogether.
RM: How has the Government assisted the university’s growth?
PK: I need to applaud the Government. Ever since I came in as the VC, the Government has poured millions of dollars for the completion of structures and we are very grateful and with that money I managed to complete the teaching complex which we commonly refer to as the Faculty of Agriculture Building, I also completed the female hostels, I also completed the kitchen and dining hall and we managed to plant a Zesa sub-station, also changed the design for students to get hot water in hostels through solar heating rather than before when they did so through electricity. Solar heating equipment has been bought, delivered to campus and what is pending at the moment is installation.
The Government has made it clear that we need to look into Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) partnerships joint ventures with a number of investors and what we have noted with a number of investors is that there are more interested in student hostels because that’s where they see returns.
We have gone a long way with the IDBZ, they have even gone further to acquiring seven hectares of land so that they can build other hostels off compass other than on.
RM: What are some of the challenges that you have faced?
PK: The economic situation has not been good to us in the sense of inflation especially in the last three months and this has meant that the income from our tuition fees from levies has been eroded and what we could do three months ago with funds we are unable to do now so we just hope that the economy stabilises as a result of the new measures that the Minister of Finance has instituted.
RM: Thank you for your time and wish you the best in your second term in office.
PK: Thank you.
