Chinese firm funds Zimbabwe students

A Chinese firm has availed funds for Zimbabwean students to enroll at Ocean University of China following a Memorandum of Understanding to fund the learners under the Presidential Scholarship Scheme.

The first batch of 50 students was welcomed at the university campus in Qingdao recently by Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group and university officials.

Zimbabwean Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Dr Christopher Mushohwe, who is also the executive director of the Presidential Scholarship Department in the Office of the President and Cabinet, also attended the function.

The enrollment will be increased to 100 students per year from next year under the MOU signed between Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group officials and the Zimbabwean government last year.

The group became the first private company to partner the Zimbabwean government in funding the Presidential Scholarship Scheme, which has benefited more than 20 000 underprivileged students since its inception in 1995.

The students were mainly being sent to South African universities and the 50 students are the first batch to be sent to China under the scholarship scheme.

Speaking at the welcome ceremony, Dr Mushohwe thanked Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group for sponsoring the students, indicating that the firm already has some projects in Zimbabwe.

“Due to financial difficulties being experienced by Zimbabwe emanating from the effects of economic sanctions imposed by America and Europe, this important programme was heavily affected and heading for discontinuation,” he said.

“The timely intervention by the Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group is a God sent blessing. Your offer of this scholarship to meet the educational needs of the beneficiaries of the programme is most welcome.”

Western countries imposed illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe after the country embarked on land reform in 2000, which took land from white settlers and redistributed it to the majority indigenous people.

Dr Mushohwe said after graduating, the students would take up posts with the Zimbabwean government related China-Zimbabwe cooperation.

He invited more Chinese firms to invest in Zimbabwe.

“Zimbabwe is endowed with natural resources and this is why we want the Chinese to come and partner with us in exploiting those resources,” said Dr Mushohwe.

The Presidential Scholarship Scheme was established by President Mugabe to cater for poor, disadvantaged and orphaned students who could not proceed to university.

In selecting the students, President Mugabe insists on equitable distribution between boys and girls, fair distribution among the eight rural provinces and targeting poor beneficiaries.

The programmes of study are selected because of their greater importance to Zimbabwe such as engineering, health sciences, dentistry, accounting, architectural science, actuarial science and agricultural sciences.

President of Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group Jia Xiaoyu said they were grateful with the opportunity to sponsor the students.

He said the decision to provide funds to the Presidential Scholarship Scheme was part of enhancing relations between China and Zimbabwe.

“This scholarship is very important to the Zimbabwean government and students who are the beneficiaries,” said Jia.

“We are very grateful that this is will help solidify relations between Zimbabwe and the People’s Republic of China.”

President of Ocean University of China Yu Zhigang welcomed the students at the campus, imploring them to be good ambassadors of Zimbabwe.

“China and Zimbabwe enjoy a good relationship in their cooperation and exchanges in many areas,” he said.

“As Ocean University of China, we attach great importance in working with other developing countries in the education sector. We will ensure that the students get high quality teaching and hope they will excel in their studies.”

The students, who had given up hope of proceeding to tertiary education, paid tribute to Qingdao Hengshen Zhongshen Group and the Zimbabwean government for affording them another chance.

They pledged to work hard as a way of repaying the trust put on them by being awarded the scholarship.

“I am very excited to be at this university,” said 23-year old Viola Mashiri. “I had failed to proceed to tertiary education after finishing school in 2012 partly because my parents died when I was very young.

“My guardian could not take me to tertiary level. It’s a new beginning and a new life for me. I have been given hope where I had lost all optimism about life.”

From a hopeless background, Viola, who is studying for a degree in Chinese language, is already thinking big about her future.

“After attaining my degree, I see myself working in Government as an interpreter,” she said. “I also see myself getting a job at the Zimbabwean embassy in China and even become the ambassador.”

Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group is incorporated in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China and is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

It has more than 20 subsidiaries in China, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The firm specialises in electric power infrastructure and energy investment, non-ferrous metal mine operation and industrial chain integration, among other operations.

It is hoped that the involvement of Qingdao Hengshen Zhongshen Group in the education sector in Zimbabwe will be an example to other Chinese firms operating in the country.

By helping out in the education sector, the Chinese would be participating in the training of experts they will need to work on their projects.

The concept of the Presidential Scholarship Scheme started soon after Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, with an internal programme being spearheaded by President Mugabe.

President Mugabe, who was Prime Minister by then, offered three of his offices under a study programme to assist newly appointed commanders of the army and government ministers who left school mid-stream to join the liberation struggle.

Under the programme, President Mugabe taught the officials law for those studying for degrees and economics at high school level.

Lovemore Chikova is the News Editor for The Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe and a fellow at the China-Africa Press Centre. He can be contacted on [email protected]