MIDLANDS State University - Only registered students to write exams

Professor Rungano Zvobgo, the Pro-Vice Chancellor for MIDLANDS State University has dismissed reports that a number of the university's students were barred from sitting for their end of semester examinations owing to late or non-registration.

In an interview yesterday at his MSU offices, Prof Zvobgo dismissed the reports that emanated from a group of about 20 disgruntled students as "a piece of Hollywood fiction full of falsehoods".

"To begin with, there was no chaos or demonstration whatsoever at the university as was reported... I spent the whole day (Wednesday) at the institution closely monitoring the situation following your publication's enquiries of a demo," he said.

"MSU is a Government institution and we do not charge fees at will. Our fees are guided and controlled by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education. I am surprised with the figures you published. What you need to know is that we involve students when coming up with some of the levies we charge. We engage students and agree upon a figure through their Student Representative Committees," said Prof Zvobgo.

He said as a matter of Government policy, the university does not bar registered students from writing examinations. He said only those students who failed to register within the stipulated period would not be allowed to sit for exams.

The end-of semester examinations started this week.

"The university's core business is examinations. Our mandate is to come up with credible and professional degree programmes. We have to make sure that every student writing the university exams is a registered student as the first precautionary instrument to come up with credible degree programmes. Those students who would have not registered for a semester would not be regarded as bonafide students of MSU and this is the trend the world over," said Prof Zvobgo.

He said as such, the students who thronged Chronicle's Gweru offices on Wednesday were not the university's bonafide students for as long as they did not register for this semester.

Prof Zvobgo said the Chronicle article was "highly sexed up" and meant to raise alarm among parents and guardians.

He warned students who paid their full fees, but failed to register that they also risked missing the end-of-semester examinations.

"During the course of the semester, we issue out several notices where we encourage all students to register. Those with no money for fees are advised to visit the offices and come up with a payment plan so that they could be registered. There is no way we would want to punish students or parents as an institution," he said.

Prof Zvobgo said registering of students was critical as it helped the institution plan for the examinations.

He said registration also helped the examinations gain credibility and international acceptance.

"It really does not make sense for an institution like ours to operate with unregistered students. It will be recipe for disaster come examination time. Security measures would not be guaranteed as almost anyone from the streets of Senga could come and sit for our exams," he said.

Prof Zvobgo said the institution was often aggressive in its drive to collect fees as it needed cash to meet its day-to-day operations.

He said MSU has an electricity powered water back-up system to cater for the many students as the city of Gweru has erratic water supplies.

"We also have electricity for 24 hours everyday after we got connected to the Somabhula power lines. This is expensive and needs money, hence we have to collect fees," said Prof Zvobgo.

The institution's registrar, Mr Erasmus Mupfiga, said the examinations kicked-off well.

He said all registered students who were due to write their papers on the said day took their sitting positions in less than 15 minutes, on time for their examinations.

Mr Mupfiga said the university's main exam venue, the Multipurpose Hall accommodates about 3 000 students.

It also emerged at yesterday's meeting that MSU charges Government approved fees of between $350 to about $700 for undergraduate studies.

The amounts include ancillary fees. Ancillary fees include medical aid, laboratory fees, caution fees and sport levies.

For post-graduate programmes, MSU charges between $664 and $940.

The fees are for local students. International students have their own special fee structure.

A group of about 20 students on Wednesday besieged the publication's Gweru offices claiming that the institution had denied them entry into the examination venue owing to late registration.

The students also claimed that they staged a demonstration at the institution resulting in some of them being allegedly assaulted by MSU security personnel.

MSU authorities said they encouraged students to register on time to ensure they write their end of semester examinations.