Michael T. Kariwo

Higher Education at the Crossroads

Higher education in Zimbabwe has moved from a small elite system to a mass system in the last thirty years. At independence in 1980 there was only one university whose total enrollment was 2000 fulltime students but to date there are 8 public and four private universities with a total enrollment of more than 42,000 full time students. There are several polytechnics, teachers’ colleges and vocational schools. The numbers of black students in universities has increased from a mere 7 out of 100 students in 1958 to over 98% of the total university enrollment.

Social support needs of Sudanese and Zimbabwean refugee new parents in Canada

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine support needs of African refugee new parents in Canada, and identifies support preferences that may enhance the mental health of refugee parents and children. Design/methodology/approach In all, 72 refugee new parents from Zimbabwe (n=36) and Sudan (n=36) participated in individual interviews. All had a child aged four months to five years born in Canada. Refugee new parents completed standardized measures on social support resources and support seeking as a coping strategy. Four group interviews (n=30) with refugee new parents were subsequently conducted. In addition, two group interviews (n=30) were held with service providers and policy influencers. Findings Separated from their traditional family and cultural supports, refugee new parents reported isolation and loneliness. They lacked support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and had limited interactions with people from similar cultural backgrounds. Refugees required support to access services and overcome barriers such as language, complex systems, and limited financial resources. Support preferences included emotional and information support from peers from their cultural community and culturally sensitive service providers. Research limitations/implications Psychometric evaluation of the quantitative measures with the two specific populations included in this study had not been conducted, although these measures have been used with ethnically diverse populations by other researchers. Practical implications The study findings can inform culturally appropriate health professional practice, program and policy development. Originality/value The study bridges gaps in research examining support needs and support intervention preferences of African refugee new parents.

Gender and Access to Higher Education

Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rates in Sub- Saharan Africa. An examination of the statistics reveals that despite this achievement women fall behind the men in their literacy level. The report of the World Economic Forum (2010) shows that the literacy rates for women have increased from 86% in 2006 to 89% in 2010. The rates for the males however have remained static at 94% in the same period. At independence in 1980, the new and democratically elected government showed a commitment to widening access at all levels of education; primary, secondary and tertiary (Kariwo, 2007).

Neoliberalism and Policy Reversals in Education

Education systems everywhere have experienced changes, influenced both by political and economic considerations. In most “developing” countries, the economic effect of neoliberal policies has created discontinuities in advancing educational progress. Education has, in most instances, been reshaped to become the arm of national economic policy and in turn, it has been shaped by the same policies. In Zimbabwe, the impact was and is still being felt among the poor who were hard-hit by withdrawals of educational and other social subsidies.

The Development of Higher Education in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, higher education refers to postsecondary institutions such as universities, polytechnics, teachers colleges, and other units in government ministries, government parastatal organisations and the private sector as well as other non-governmental organisations. In this chapter the focus is on public universities. Higher education is divided as follows: Universities; Further Education Colleges, which include technical colleges and polytechnics; Teachers’ Training Colleges and Agricultural Training Colleges, which come under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Supporting refugee parents of young children: “knowing you’re not alone”

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an accessible and culturally appropriate social support intervention designed to meet the support needs and preferences identified by African refugee parents of young children. Design/methodology/approach The study was built on the research team’s preceding study assessing social support needs and intervention preferences of Sudanese and Zimbabwean refugee parents of young children. Face-to-face support groups led by peer and professional mentors were conducted bi-weekly over seven months. Qualitative data collection methods were employed through group and individual interviews. Findings In total, 85 refugee parents (48 Sudanese, 37 Zimbabwean; 47 male, 38 female) in two Canadian provinces participated in the social support intervention. Results demonstrated that this intervention increased participants’ social support by: providing information, enhancing spousal relationships, and expanding engagement with their ethnic community. This pilot intervention decreased refugee new parents’ loneliness and isolation, enhanced coping, improved their capacity to attain education and employment, and increased their parenting competence. Practical implications Peer mentors who were refugee parents of young children were key to facilitating the support intervention and to enhancing confidence of group members to raise their children in Canada. They acted as role models as they had faced similar challenges. Success of this intervention can also be attributed to its flexibility and participant-centered focus. Originality/value This is the first reported study to design and test the impacts of support interventions for African refugee parents of young children.

A Critical Analysis of the Role of African Universities in Democracy and Social Justice

Recent decades have witnessed a changing landscape in African higher education (HE). Major reforms have spawned drastic changes in student enrolment, revenue diversification, external quality assurance mechanisms and governance structures. At the regional level, the African Union (AU) set out the goal of “complete revitalization of higher education in Africa” for the period 2006 to 2015. We examine the role of the African University and interrogate the AU’s goal of “complete revitalization” to see whether it has implications on re-positioning African universities so that they can play important roles in the promotion of and respect for democracy and social justice. The African continent is confronted by social justice issues, including limited access to higher education, health facilities and food due to abject poverty.

Education and Development

Zimbabwe is a fomer British colony that was known as Rhodesia from 1965 to1979. Before 1964, the name “Rhodesia” had referred to the countries consisting of Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia which formed the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation which existed between 1953 and 1963 was an amalgamation of modern Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Globalisation and Higher Education

There is little information on global citizenship education within the context of Zimbabwe. Some earlier studies (Nziramasanga, 1989a, 1995) focused on how the Social Studies curriculum could be revised to address citizenship education and thereby create programmes that are more relevant in an independent Zimbabwe. This approach to the concept of citizenship education was more inward looking compared to the current notion of global citizenship education.

The Issues and the Way Forward

The development of education cannot be adequately explained without analysing the historical context that focuses on the political, social and economic intersections. In this book, we described the historical and post-colonial developments in Zimbabwe and argued how they have shaped educational policy and practice. Colonial systems of education were divisive and discriminatory leading to a two-tier schooling system that favoured the minority white population while the indigenous populations were disadvantaged by the segregation that was embedded in educational policies and the whole educational system.