Bulawayo Polytechnic College
Bulawayo Polytechnic is an academic institution established in 1927 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, initially as a technical school. The current main campus on Park Road in Suburbs was established in 1942. Very strict on hygiene and moral standards. The Division of Art & Design is based at a campus on George Silundika Street in the central business district. This campus also offers training for artisans in bricklaying, plumbing, carpentry, joinery, and wood machining. (The polytechnic is sometimes wrongfully called Bulawayo Polytechnic College instead of Bulawayo Polytechnic.)
| Bulawayo Polytechnic | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
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| Information | |
| Established | 1927 |
| Principal | Gilbert Mabasa |
The current principal of Bulawayo Polytechnic is Gilbert Mabasa.
Academics
The polytechnic provides higher education qualifications including a national diploma in civil engineering. It is one of the few polytechnics in the country that produces civil engineering technicians. Some of the programs offered include mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, automotive engineering, information technology, library and information science, records management and biotechnology as well as commerce programs such as marketing management, purchasing and supply, banking and finance, and secretarial studies among others.
It has played host to exchange students from many countries including the United States and western Europe. It provides technical and vocational education for the nation. Most of the students who graduated, especially in technical programs such as engineering in the early 2000s when the Zimbabwean economy started slumping, have migrated to neighboring South Africa where the demand for technical workers is high.
The polytechnic has been attempting to become a University College but fell out of favour in preference to the establishment of the National University of Science and Technology; NUST used Bulawayo Polytechnic facilities to get started. The polytechnic is now offering two Bachelor of Technology degrees in Environmental Health and Water Resource Engineering in conjunction with NUST.
The 2016 Architectural Technology National Certificate class was one of the best classes who attained 85% pass.
Student politics
The most successful student leaders are Nkululeko Sibanda and Blessing Vava. Nkululeko Sibanda was one of the two students to be expelled from college by then Principal Mwadiwa for student activism after Swithern Chirowodza, in 2002. Swithern was expelled for labelling Mwadiwa as corrupt and Nkululeko Sibanda on the orders of the Minister of Higher Education following a meeting he had had with the Minister in Harare. He had also become the de facto President of his SRC after the suspension of Kwanisai Mafa who had allegedly misappropriated funds and the abdication of President-Apparent Blessing Sibanda, who feared that the Union was too radical and was opposed to student strikes owing to his religious inclinations. This was the first council from Bulawayo to challenge the Zimbabwean government which prompted the then minister of Higher Education to order the expulsion of the most radical student leaders in the council, Nkululeko Sibanda and Swithern Chirowodza. Nkululeko Sibanda became the president of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). In 2001 he was voted the best student union leader by the Union, receiving the Henrick Visa Award and certificate. He is the only person to lead ZINASU without being a university student. During his term of office, ZINASU won the International Student Peace Prize in Norway. Nkululeko Sibanda now holds a PhD from the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom and continues to campaign for human rights and democracy across the global.
Blessing Vava, who now holds a Masters from Wits University in South Africa was Students Union President in 2006-7, was named the most exemplary student in 2006 and is also a national and international activist having because the ZINASU information guru and lead many organisations including the National Constitutional Assembly. The militant student leader led protests against high tuition fees and in support of students rights. This resulted in him being arrested on numerous occasions by the law enforcement agents in Zimbabwe, and he was subsequently denied registration to complete his studies. He is the spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Students Union.
In 2013 the SRC president was Tafadzwa Tigere and his vice president was Offias Madzivire; the secretary general was Tinomuvonga Gift Mushure who was renowned for his strong English and communication skills. Madzivire was one of the student leaders along with the secretary general who stood with students when the administration wanted to remove the students from the hostel to accommodate ZIMSEC markers without informing the students. Madzivire became the de facto human rights advocate in the Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (ZICOSU). Madzivire faced the Bulawayo Polytechnic administration for the rights of the students. He became a hero for the students at Bulawayo Poly because of the things he advocated for as a student leader. He was a fearless, brave, smart, and intelligent leader.
List of principals
The following is a list of principals of Bulawayo Polytechnic:[1]<ref>Transformation of Polytechnics long over due 20 July 2016 Herald
- P. N. Gifford (1927–1947)
- H. J. Sutherby (1947–1959)
- n/a (1959–1979)
- J. H. Bowman (1979–1984)
- G. J. Crutchley (1985–1988)
- A.M. Ncube (1989–1996)
- G. S. Evans (1996–1997; acting)
- A. I. C. Mwadiwa (1997–2004)
- M. A. Zengeya (2004; acting)
- Gilbert Mabasa (2004–2005; acting)
- T. P. Ndlovu (2005–2014)
- Gilbert Mabasa (2014–present)
