Eng.WR Nyemba

Foreword

The Faculty of Engineering  within the then University of Rhodesia was established in 1973 wih the technical, material and financial support from the British Overseas Development Authority(ODA). Most of the lecturers at inauguration were drawn  from the University od London. This was in response to a growing demand of training local technical expertise who would play a pivotal role in the process of industrialisation amd develpoment. This role is increasing in importance as Zimababw strives to increase the contribution of Engineering to the Gross National Product.

At inception, the Faculty of Engineering consisted of the the three traditional departments of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and saw the first handful of engineers graduating in 1977. After indipenedence in 1980, the country saw a number of foreign trained engineers returning to Zimbabwe and some of these took up to positions in industry and some opted to take up to lecturing at the now University of Zimbabwe. A few years  after the indipendence, a number of mines were opened up and there was a growing demand for techinical personnel in such fields as Mining and Metallugry. Throgh the assistance of the Germany Technical Cooperation (GTZ) , three additional departments were established in 1985, namely Mining Engineering , Metallurgical Engineering and Surveying. Also in response to the growing demand  and the fact that Agriculture formed the backbone of the country's  economy the University of Zimbabwe established the department of Agriculture Engineering in 1992, co-hosted by the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Agriculture. In the mid-90s , the Department of Surveying was changed to that of department of Geoinformatics and Surveying following the rapid changes in the training of land surveyors. across the globe.

Over the years, there was also a realisation that training at highre level was essential and thus a number of postgraduate programmes were established. These included Highway  Engineering , Water Resources Engineering and Management , Intregrated Water Resources Management in the department of Civil Engineering , Communications Engineering and Power Engineering in the department of Electrical Engineering , Manufaturing Systems and Operations Management and Renewable Energy in the Deaprtment of Mechanical Engineering , Land and Geographic Information Systems in the Department of Suverying and Mineral Production and Engineering Management in the department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering . In addition , higher degrees by research such as Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Pholosophy are also offered in the various Departments. 

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