CAUSES OF LOW STUDENT ENROLMENT AT THE ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY’S HARARE-CHITUNGWIZA REGION FOR THE PERIOD 2008-2013

Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE April 2015 ISSN 1302-6488 Volume: 16 Number: 2 Article 8 CAUSES OF LOW STUDENT ENROLMENT AT THE ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY’S HARARE-CHITUNGWIZA REGION FOR THE PERIOD 2008-2013 David BISHAU Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts and Education Harare, ZIMBABWE Wellington SAMKANGE Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts and Education Harare, ZIMBABWE ABSTRACT The focus on Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has given people an alternative to acquiring and developing skills in areas of their choice especially those related to their jobs. While its introduction was met with different responses, it could be noted that in some cases ODL has been viewed with scepticism and in others it has been received with excitement and hope. Such euphoria and hope has in some instances contributed to an increase in enrolment in higher institutions of higher learning that offer the ODL model. However, these high enrolments have not been sustained in the case of the Zimbabwe Open University, HarareChitungwiza Region. There has been a decline in enrolments over the past five years. This study sought to identify the causes of low student enrolment at the Zimbabwe Open University’s (ZOU) Harare- Chitungwiza Region was conducted. The study used the qualitative research methodology, guided by the grounded theory paradigm as it sought to answer the questions about ‘why’. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaires, interviews, participant observation and through the social medium. The data were collected from current students, inactive students and alumni. Data were analysed through open coding and axial coding. The study concluded that there was a causal relationship between student enrolments at the Zimbabwe Open University’s Harare-Chitungwiza Region and a number of causal factors and conditions. The main causal factors were knowledge about ZOU and the Region, the ODL mode of delivery, the ZOU image, policy changes on payment of fees and negative media reports about ZOU. The study recommends strategies that would help improve the ZOU image. Keywords: Enrolments, Open and Distance Learning, Causal conditions INTRODUCTION The advent of independence in Zimbabwe in 1980 brought with it policy changes and reforms in many areas. In education such changes and reforms occurred in both lower and higher education. This was in keeping with two strictly related general guiding philosophies in education and development, that if a country were to be competitive in the knowledge economy it needs to take seriously expansion in higher education (Saint et.al., 2003), and   94     that a country that wants to be on trek to a successful knowledge economy needs to work on its ability to become a learning nation (Sharma, 2009). Zimbabwe became part of an ongoing global process that Rye (2009) calls the ‘massification of higher education’ especially in developing countries experiencing transition from the colonial elitist academic institutions that promoted bottle-neck education systems. In higher education, the bottle neck system which limited the number of students who were expected to enrol at university was abolished. There was only one university in Zimbabwe at the time of independence, the University of Zimbabwe. With the expansion of the education system at both primary and secondary school, it was envisaged that relying on one university for the human resources development needs of Zimbabwe was not viable. The need for another university other than the University of Zimbabwe resulted in the establishment of the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo. However, this did not take care of the adult population that had already left formal school and were working. To cater for such a target group there was need to establish an Open and Distance University in Zimbabwe. The Centre for Distance Education was established in 1993 at the University of Zimbabwe, under the Faculty of Education. The centre offered degrees in education to teachers who had acquired certificates and diplomas in education. The first group of students was about 700. In 1996 the Centre for Distance Education was transformed to the University College of Distance Education and a variety of other degree programmes were introduced. This saw the enrolment increasing to about 3500. In 1999 the University College of Distance Education was further transformed to become the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU). The Zimbabwe Open University was established by an Act of Parliament, The Zimbabwe Open University Act Chapter 25; 20, Number 12/98 (ZOU, University General Information and Regulations, 2007). It had the mission to empower people from different walks of life by developing their skills and full potential without disrupting their family and working life, through open and distance learning. The Zimbabwe Open University became a fully fledged university in 1999, offering degree programmes in the fields of Science and technology, Business Management and Law, Humanities and Social Sciences and Health Sciences. Since the university now offered a variety of degree programmes, the student enrolment significantly increased to the extent that by 2007, the Zimbabwe Open University had become the biggest university in Zimbabwe in terms of student enrolment. For example in 2007 the total student enrolment at the Zimbabwe Open University was 19 676 against the country’s total university student enrolment of 41 000 (http://www.sarau.org/?q=uni_Zimbabwe Open University). In that respect, by 2007 the Zimbabwe Open University accounted for about half of university enrolment in Zimbabwe’s nine state universities. This factor of student growth and other related factors in higher education had an impact on the higher education political playing ground whose effects are probably beginning to be felt at the ZOU currently. Green (1994) noted a number of factors influencing higher education especially in developing countries experiencing the massification of education that include the rapid expansion of student numbers against the backcloth of public expenditure worries and increasing competition within the educational ‘market’ for resources and students. Perraton (2007a), Gulati (2008) and Czerniewicz and Brown (2009) confirm that Green’s observation painted a reasonably accurate picture of what ensues in the education ‘market’ once higher education is ‘massified’ as the nation is fast becoming a learning nation. This   95     study raises two strictly related questions: first, how did the rapid expansion of students at ZOU influence and, or, relate to public expenditure worries and second, to what extent did the rapid student enrolment at ZOU influence competition for resources and students in the education ‘market’? This study insinuates that these two factors were probably primarily at play in the drop in student numbers at ZOU from 2008 to 2013. At the time of conducting t (...truncated)