The government has rejected proposed fee hikes by universities until at least the threat of COVID-19 has receded.
Higher and Tertiary Education minister, Amon Murwira said no fees increases will be approved until the economic conditions improve. Said the minister:
The fees structures we are maintaining at universities are even lower than those being charged by most boarding schools in the country.
Three factors; affordability, reasonability and sustainability will determine fees hikes.
He said local universities were not there to make profits, therefore, the current fees structures must be maintained.
Murwira also revealed that the government has secured five high tech servers to improve online learning across the country’s learning institutions. He said:
We also bought five high tech servers last year in a bid to achieve online learning for our institutions.
These will be shared and as the year progresses, we are expecting to add five more to bring stability to our institutions.
Undergraduate students pay an equivalent of about US$200 on average at local universities which is far below regional averages of US$2 500 per year.