Solusi University

Solusi University

Our Story

Solusi University, located 50 kilometres west of Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe, is a co-educational institution, which was founded in 1894 as
one of the first of the hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist mission
stations. It was named after Chief Soluswe, near whose home the Mission
was founded.


During the first decade of its existence, Solusi Mission shared in
the suffering brought to the region by war and a resulting famine.
Despite these hardships, the development of the Mission continued and a
regional training programme was established for the development of
church workers. Men who trained at Solusi Mission assisted in the
development of new mission stations on other parts of, by then, Southern
Rhodesia; and several of them reached beyond the borders of the country
to help establish mission schools in neighboring countries as early as
1905.


With a growing demand for church workers, Solusi Mission continued to
expand, and by 1929 a government approved teacher-training programme
had begun. To meet the need for higher academic training, secondary
school training was begun in 1948, and in 1952, the teacher-training
programme was moved to Lower Gwelo (Gweru) Mission to make room at
Solusi for the expanding academic programme.


On October 31, 1956, the Board of Regents of the General Conference
of Seventh-day-Adventists authorized the upgrading of Solusi to senior
college status. By 1958, Solusi College was offering post-secondary
course leading to Bachelor’s Degrees so that church workers throughout
Southern and Central Africa would be more fully qualified to meet the
leadership challenges of an increasingly sophisticated and more highly
educated church membership. To enhance the quality of the programme and
to facilitate acceptance for postgraduate studies at international
universities, negotiations were promptly begun to achieve affiliation
with a fully accredited Seventh-day Adventist university in the United
States of America (USA).


By October 1984 approval for an affiliation with Andrews University
in Berrien Springs, Michigan had been granted by the Solusi College
Board of Trustees, the Andrews University Board of Trustees, the Board
of Regents of the General Conference of Seventh-day-Adventists, the
Board of Higher Education of Seventh-day Adventists and the regional
accrediting body in the USA – the North Central Association of Schools
and Colleges (NCASC).


This affiliation between Solusi College and Andrews University was a
contractual agreement under which Andrews University undertook a
continuing process of review of the Solusi College administration,
teaching faculty, library and other physical facilities. Under the terms
of the affiliation contract, Solusi College was obliged to underwrite
all expenses related to the affiliation, and to maintain internationally
accepted standards for its faculty and its academic policies, including
adequate faculty, facilities, equipment, and appropriate admission
standards and examination procedures.


For its part, Andrews University agreed to provide guidance in the
development of new programmes, to monitor academic standards and
examinations, to grant academic credit for all courses satisfactorily
completed in approved Associate or Baccalaureate Degree programmes, and
to confer its degrees upon the students who satisfactorily completed ALL
degree requirements as specified by the faculty of Andrews University.
The Registrar of Andrews University accepted the ongoing responsibility
of issuing transcripts whenever required by the graduate, appropriately
identifying the Solusi College campus as the location where the degree
requirements were completed.


Solusi College developed rapidly under the 10 years of affiliation
with Andrews University. New programmes were added and enrolment
increased by nearly 500 percent. In 1987, 1993 and again in 1998 Solusi
University, as a part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist educational
system, received denominational re-accreditation as an institution of
higher learning following thorough inspections by teams of regional and
international educators representing the Accrediting Association of the
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Schools, Colleges and
Universities. On all occasions, Solusi educators reciprocated by
participating in inspections of sister institutions in East Africa.


In 1991, subsequent to the creation by the Zimbabwean Parliament of
the National Council for Higher Education, Solusi College submitted an
application for establishment as a fully accredited private university.
In March 1992, an on-site inspection by members of the National Council,
and continuing dialogue of church and college administrators with the
National Council and the Ministry of Higher Education led to the
gazetting by government, in July 1994, of a charter establishing Solusi
University.


On May 4, 1995 in a colourful ceremony attended by hundreds of guests
and visiting dignitaries, His Excellency, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe,
officially presented the Solusi University Charter, and the instruments
of authority to the newly installed Chancellor, Dr I.D. Raelly. His
Excellency then became the first graduate of Solusi University as
recipient of the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, in recognition for
his personal and public commitment to education, his national and
international leadership, and the Christian attributes so evident in his
life of service.


In a ceremony on 11 June 1995, at which Dr Ignatius Chombo, Minister
of Higher Education, was the honoured guest, Solusi University
celebrated its first graduation with seventeen graduates who had
transferred from Andrews Degree Programme. In his graduation address Dr
Chombo announced that the Solusi University students who are Zimbabwean
citizen would, in the future, be eligible for government grants and
loans to assist them in their education.


With the establishment of Solusi University as a private university,
the granting of Andrews University degrees on the Solusi campus was
phased out in August 1998. However, it is expected that some form of
linkage with Andrews University as a sister institution will continue
for the mutual benefit of both universities.


The fact that Solusi Mission has served Southern, Central and Eastern
Africa is evidenced by the large number of graduates who hold
responsible positions in all areas of leadership in business,
government, and in the church. With the realization of the vision of
being a “World Class Christian University” at hand, it seems certain
that the positive influence of Solusi University will continue to expand
throughout the region.

Currently, the constituency of Solusi University is Zimbabwe Union
Conference. However, students come from other countries such as Angola,
Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South
Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt,
Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.