Dean- Faculty of Education  

 

Dean's profile

Professor Ruth Gora is the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zimbabwe and an accomplished scholar, educational leader, quality assurance specialist and researcher with extensive experience spanning higher education, teacher education, curriculum development, language policy and institutional leadership. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Arts Education, where she specialises in Language Education, Curriculum Issues and Pedagogy, Sociolinguistics, Language and Literature, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

With a distinguished academic and professional career that spans more than three decades, Professor Gora has served at secondary school, teacher education college, and university levels, steadily rising through leadership and academic ranks. Her academic and professional qualifications include a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy (D.Litt. et Phil.) from the University of South Africa, a Master of Education, Bachelor of Education and Certificate in Education all from the University of Zimbabwe, as well as training in quality assurance, outcomes-based education, leadership coaching, and higher education curriculum design. 

As Dean, Professor Gora provides strategic leadership in advancing excellence in teaching and learning and assessment, research, innovation, industrialisation and community engagement within the Faculty of Education. Her leadership philosophy is anchored in academic excellence, transformative education, quality assurance, inclusive human capital development, and the promotion of indigenous knowledge systems within the heritage-based Education 5.0 framework.

Professor Gora possesses extensive experience in university governance and administration. She has served in numerous senior academic and management roles, including Acting Dean, Acting Deputy Dean, Proctor, Department Chairperson and Quality Assurance Manager for Training at the University of Zimbabwe. She is also a Team Leader and Peer Reviewer for Academic and Institutional Audit under the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education, contributing significantly to quality assurance and institutional strengthening in higher education across Zimbabwe. 

An internationally engaged scholar, Professor Gora has collaborated with universities and institutions across Africa, Europe and Asia, including academic engagements with the University of Potsdam, University of Deusto, Midlands State University, Africa University, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Stellenbosch University, and North East Normal University. Her scholarly contributions include journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations and research outputs focusing on language policy, multicultural education, indigenous knowledge systems, curriculum transformation, gender, quality assurance, and sustainable development.

Beyond academia, Professor Gora is actively involved in community engagement and women’s empowerment initiatives. She currently serves as Chairperson of the Forum for African Women Educationalists Zimbabwe Chapter, where she advocates for equitable access to education and opportunities for women and marginalised communities.

Research interests

• Language Planning and Policy
• Language Education and Pedagogy
• Curriculum Studies
• Sociolinguistics
• Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• Education for Sustainable Development
• Human Capital Development
• African Languages in Education 

PUBLICATIONS 

Journal Articles   

1.Muchenje, F., Goronga, P. and Gora, R. (2021). Teachers’ Views on the Utility of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Teaching of Agriculture in Selected Schools in Zvimba District, Zimbabwe. Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Volume 1 and 2, pp 58 – 84. 

2.Gora, R. B. and Muchenje, F. (2020). Language and Gender on WhatsApp: A Sociolinguistic View. In Journal of African Languages and Literary Studies (JoALLS) , Volume 1(2), pp 137-152. Page | 3 

3.Kasonde, A. and Gora, R. (2019). La politique bilingue dans les universités d’Afrique Australe: Perspectives pédagogiques (English translation: Bilingual policy at universities in Southern Africa: A pedagogical perspective). In Sociolinguistique and Didactique (SociD), Number 4/2019, pp 109 - 132

4.Muchenje, F. and Gora, R. B. (2017). Locating Zimbabwe’s Language Policy in Education in the Context of Multicultural Education: Perspectives of Teachers from Selected Schools in Chegutu District. NAWA Journal of Language and Communication, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp 148 - 162.

5. Gora R. B. and Manyarara, B. C. (2016). ICTs in Teacher Education: Enhancing Quality in Language Teaching and Learning in Zimbabwe. In Namibia CPD Journal for Educators, Vol. 3, Issue 1/2016, pp113 - 123.

6. Manyarara, B. C. and Gora, R. B. (2015). Aesthetic of naming: Potential psycho-sociological effects of some forenames in use among Zimbabweans. In Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences,Vol. 4, No. 1 and 2, pp 34 - 41. 

7.Gora, R. B. and Mutasa, D. E. (2015). Impact of perception and attitude towards the study of African languages on human resource needs: a case for Zimbabwe. In Per Linguam, 2015, Volume 31(1):74-88. 

8.Gora, R. (2015). Teachers’ perception and awareness of Shona dialects vis-à-vis Standard Shona in the Zimbabwean classroom: Implications for teaching and learning. In Namibia CPD Journal for Educators Vol. 2, Issue 1/2015, pp 12 – 22. 

9.Makuvaza, N. and Gora, R. (2014). What is happening to the ‘noble’ profession? Concerns about and threats to the teaching profession in high school in Zimbabwe – The Way forward. In International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, Vol.4 Issue 2, 2014, pp 477–490. 

10.Gora, R. (2013). Continuity and Change: Towards National Language Policy for Education in Zimbabwe. InOnline Journal of Social Sciences Research, Vol. 2, Issue 5, May 2013, pp 123-129. 

11.Muchenje, F., Gora, R. and Bondai, B. (2013). Constraints of Private Sphere Responsibilities on Availability of Time to Study: A Case Study of Married Women Students at the University of Zimbabwe’s Faculty of Education. In Academic Research International, Vol. 4, No. 3, May 2013, pp 513-525.Page | 4 

12.Bondai, B., Gora, R. and Muchenje, F. (2012). Language and Gender: Implication for the Female Self-Concept in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, University of Zimbabwe Publications, Vol. 24, No.1, March 2012, pp 13 - 24. 

13.Gora, R. (2010). The Role of Bird Characters in African Story and Myth. In Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa, University of KwaZulu-Natal Publications – South Africa, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2010, pp 53 -63. 

14.Gora, R., Mavunga, G., Waniwa, F. and Muringani, B. (2010). The Use of Shona as a Medium of Instruction in a Tonga-speaking Community: Parents’ and Teachers’ Perceptions. In Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, University of Zimbabwe Publications, Vol. 22, No.1, March 2010, pp 87-102

15.Tatira, L. Sithole, N., Manyarara, B. C. and Gora, R. (2009). An Experimental Study into the Use of Computers for Teaching of Composition Writing in English at Prince Edward School in Harare. In Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, University of Zimbabwe Publications, Vol.21, No. 1 March 2009, pp 85 -101.

16.Waniwa, F., Mavunga, G., Gora, R. and Muringani, B. (2007). Teachers’ Colleges Preparation of Student Teachers for the Teaching of Children’s Literature: The Case of Marymount, Masvingo and Morgenster Teachers’ Colleges. In Zimbabwe Bulletin of Teacher Education,University of Zimbabwe Publications Vol. 14, Issue 1, September 2007, pp 95 -112.

Book chapters 

1. Gora, R. B. and Muchenje, F. (2022). Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the School Curriculum: Issues and Perspectives from the South. In A. Mamvuto, F. Makuvaza, P. Kwaira, and F. Zindi (Eds), Discourses in Education and Culture in Postcolonial Zimbabwe, Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications, pp 37-59. 
2. Muchenje, F. and Gora, R. B. (2022). Approaches to Multicultural Education: Implications for Practice in Zimbabwean Primary Schools. In A. Mamvuto, F. Makuvaza, P. Kwaira, and F. Zindi (Eds), Discourses in Education and Culture in Postcolonial Zimbabwe, Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications, pp 145-162. 
3. Kasonde, A. and Gora, R. (2020). Le bilinguisme institutionnel des universités africaines et l’impératif panafricaniste à l’ère de la mondialisation: critique de la micro-pédagogie [English translation: Institutional Bilingualism in African Universities and the Imperative of Pan Africanism during the Era of Globalization: A critique of micro-pedagogy]. In S. M. X. Atenke Etoa, J. Evouna and V. Eloundou, La linguistique au pluriel: Hommage a Louis Martin Onguene Essono Muchenje, F. and Gora, R. B. (2018). Gender role socialisation and GBV: Is our education system helping? In SIPD Institute (Eds.) Gender-based Violence in Zimbabwe: Critical questions and the way out. Harare: Southern Institute of Peacebuilding and Development, pp 58 - 76. 
4. Makuvaza, N. and Gora, R. B. (2018). OPHs as a Legacy of Colonialism in Postcolonial Zimbabwe: Perspectives from Hunhu/Ubuntu Cultural Perspectives. In Mangena, Fainos and John Douglas McClymont (Eds.)Philosophy, Race and Multiculturalism in Southern Africa: Zimbabwean Philosophical Studies, III. USA: The Council for Research and Values, pp 251 - 268. 
5. Gora, R. B. (2017). (Re-) Integrating African languages into the Zimbabwean Curriculum. In Shizha, Edward and Ngoni Makuvaza (Eds.) Rethinking Postcolonial Education in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 21st Century: Post Millennium Development GoalsThe Netherlands - Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp 141 - 158. 
6. Muchenje, F., Gora, R. and Makuvaza, N. (2016). Interrogating the Concept of Time among the Shona: A Postcolonial Discourse. In Gloria Emeagwali and Edward Shizha (Eds.) African Indigenous Knowledge and the Sciences: Journeys into the Past and Present.The Netherlands: Sense Publishers, pp 79 - 92.  
7. Gora, R. (2014). The Teacher’s Rapport inside and outside the School. In Tatira, L. (Ed.) Becoming an Effective Teacher.. Harare: Benaby Printing and Publishing (Private) Ltd, pp 50 – 57.  
8. Gora, R. (2013). The Shona Poem in Mapara, J. and Mudzanire, B. (Eds.) (2013). UBUNTU/UNHU PHILOSOPHY: A Brief Shona Perspective Harare: Bhabhu Books, pp 88 - 98. 

 Edited book accepted for publication 

Makuvaza, N. and Gora R. B. (Eds) (forthcoming). Negotiating Issues of Unhu/Ubuntu and Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the Updated Curriculum (2019-2022) in Zimbabwe: A Reader for Africa (accepted by University of Zimbabwe Press, 262 pages).  

Book, chapters and papers/articles accepted for publication

1. Makuvaza, N. and Gora R. B. (forthcoming). Negotiating Issues of Unhu/Ubuntu and Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the Updated Curriculum (2019-2022) in Zimbabwe: A Reader for Africa, an Introduction for Negotiating Issues of Unhu/Ubuntu and Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the Updated Curriculum (2019-2022), pp 1-16 (accepted by University of Zimbabwe Press). 
2. Gora, R.B. and Muchenje, F. (forthcoming). Incorporating indigenous knowledge systems in Zimbabwe’s Updated Curriculum: Issues and perspectives. In Makuvaza, N. and Gora R. B. (Eds). Negotiating Issues of Unhu/Ubuntu and Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the Updated Curriculum (2019-2022) pp 96-113(accepted by University of Zimbabwe Press)  
3. Mhaka, E., Mhaka, I., Makuvaza, N., Gora, R. B. and Mutasa, J. (forthcoming) Deconstructing and reconstructing Shona culture and the disability narrative in Zimbabwean educational spaces: Implications for inclusive education. In Makuvaza, N. and Gora R. B. (Eds).Negotiating Issues of Unhu/Ubuntu and Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the Updated Curriculum (2019-2022) in Zimbabwe: A Reader for Africa, pp 237-262 (accepted by University of Zimbabwe Press). Negotiating Issues of Unhu/Ubuntu and Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the Updated Curriculum (2019-2022)