The Church of the Province of Central Africa broke ground Saturday for Zimbabwe’s newest university. Approximately 3000 people gathered in Marondera in the outskirts of Harare on 25 Sept 2015 for the launch of the Anglican affiliated university, which diocesan officials hope will enroll its first class in late 2016. In 2013 the Bishop of Harare, Dr. Chad Gandiya raised the issue of building a church-affiliated university to address the need for higher education in the Central African nation. The diocese hopes to invest $200 million over the coming twenty five years into the school to provide technical, agricultural and scientific education for the country. In his speech at the groundbreaking the primate of the CPCA, the Most Rev. Albert Chama, Bishop of Northern Zambia, urged Anglicans across the province to back the school. According to an account of his remarks released by the diocese, Archbishop Chama observed 300,000 Zimbabweans have left the country to study.It was time for Zimbabwe to provide sufficient educational opportunities for its citizens “so that we don’t travel abroad in search of education.” On behalf of the province, “we thank you all for making this dream a reality,” the archbishop said. Speaking to Radio VOP in Harare, a spokesman for the university steering committee Prof. Joseph Matowanyika noted one of the primary reasons for building the school was “that university education in Zimbabwe is far from providing adequate space and I think only about one percent of those that go through our primary and secondary system find their way into tertiary institutions and just doubling that two percent means we have to double the space of universities. The state universities take up to 70 000 while private institutions take up something like 20 000. We are also joining other churches like the Methodists, Catholics, Adventist, the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe and Zaoga” (Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa) in building a church related university. “So it was time the Anglican Church joined these.”
