Rungano Jonas Zvobgo

Professor Rungano Jonas Zvobgo (born 1948) is the Vice Chancellor of Great Zimbabwe University in Zimbabwe.^[1] His second term ends in 2022.^{[needs update][2]} Prior to this position, Professor Zvobgo had been Principal of Gweru Teacher's College and subsequently the first deputy vice chancellor of Midlands State University. Professor Zvobgo is also a representative of the southern region for the Association of African Universities (AAU).^[3]

Background

Professor Zvobgo comes from one of Zimbabwe's most illustrious families. His most famous brother, Dr Eddison Zvobgo, was a founding member of ZANU,^[4] and his other brother, Professor Chengetayi Zvobgo, was a renowned historian at the University of Zimbabwe.^[5] Both brothers are now late.^[6][7] Their father was a prominent leader in the Dutch Reformed Church in the Masvingo area.

Career

Being a member of a political family meant that the younger Zvobgo, like his older brothers, lived in exile in the 1970s. He first studied in India, and eventually obtained a PhD in Educational Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 1980 presenting the thesis Government and missionary policies on African secondary education in Southern Rhodesia: with special reference to the Anglican and Wesleyan Methodist churches, 1934-1971.^[8] He then returned to Zimbabwe after independence and worked at various institutions of higher education. When Gweru Teacher's College where he presided over as Principal was upgraded into a state university he became a member of the founding executive as deputy vice chancellor. Zvobgo is a renowned educationist.^[9]

Publications

• Transforming Education: The Zimbabwean Experience (College Press, 1986)^[10]

• Colonialism and Education in Zimbabwe (SAPES, 1994)

• The State, Ideology and Education (Mambo Press, 1997)

• The Post-colonial State and Educational Reform (ZPH, 1999)

• Contextualising the Curriculum: The Zimbabwean Experience (College Press, 2007)^[11]