Minister of Education justifies UZ fees hikes

The Minister of HIGHER and Tertiary Education Amon Murwira has defended the abnormal fee hike at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) saying local tertiary institutions‘ fees were too low.

The University of Zimbabwe increased fees by 1 000% last week which led to protests with students who were expected to pay an amount equivalent to US$1 000 per semester, triggering protests at the institution of higher education that resulted in 19 students being arrested early this week.

Minister Murwira in a statement at a Press conference yesterday as he welcomed a Russian Federation delegation that is set to tour the country’s tertiary institutions said “If only we could compare Zimbabwe with southern Africa, we have a relatively lower level of fees. I am avoiding saying the word cheap because we are subsidizing higher education,”

He went on to say “If we were not subsiding, it would be around US$10 000. The issue with the UZ is that they met on August 18 and they agreed on the fees that they are going to charge. Let’s separate politics (from) education. We are not going to entertain that,” Murwira said.
The UZ Students Representative Council (SRC), however, dismissed claims that there was an agreement on the new fee structure.

SRC spokesperson Takunda Gift Chinoda urged students to continue piling pressure on university authorities to review the fees downwards.

In a statement, he said “As SRC we want to distance ourselves from the claim by the administration that we agreed on the 30% US dollar increment of fees. The administration justified the fee hike whereas SRC disagreed,” Chinoda said.