Fake colleges deregistered

The colleges are alleged to have been offering “unregistered degrees” by the ministry’s Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (Zimche). They are City Study Centre, Calvary University and Regent Business School. Regent Business School was operating from Johannesburg in South Africa and was offering an MBA in Zimbabwe through lectures and tutorials, while Calvary University and City Study Centre were tutoring UNISA courses and all degree programmes, respectively.

A spokesperson for Zimche said the three colleges had been deregistered in terms of Section 17 of the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education Act (Chapter 25:27) read in conjunction with Section 8 and Section 9 of the Manpower Development Act.

“Zimche wishes to inform all stakeholders in higher education that the following institutions are not registered and, therefore, cannot offer university degrees in Zimbabwe – City Study Centre, in Harare, Calvary University, in Avondale, Harare, and Regent Business School, in Johannesburg, South Africa,” Zimche said.

“Zimbabweans are advised to avoid these institutions in order to protect themselves personally, professionally and academically.”

It said for any other information citizens could contact officials their offices at Runhare House, in Harare. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education has been coming down hard on bogus colleges, accusing them of causing the nation’s otherwise high literacy rate to nose- dive.

Zimbabwe currently has the highest literacy rate in Africa having toppled French-speaking Tunisia last year, according to the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO).