By NDUBI MVULA –
AFTER Zambia’s first public university was established and its first Chancellor, Kenneth David Kaunda, who was also Republican president, had been elected and installed at a colourful ceremony, it was now time to erect the foundation stone at the permanent home of this great university.
It was decided that that the permanent home for the University of Zambia was going to be situated on the Great East Road, about nine (9) kilometres from the city centre in Lusaka, and a grand ceremony was held to lay the foundation stone.
The day for this grand occasion was Wednesday 13th July, 1966 and the speakers were Minister of Education John Mumpanga Mwanankatwe, Vice Chancellor Douglas G Anglin and the new Chancellor Dr Kaunda, and witnessed by visiting Tanzanian president Julius Kambarage Nyerere and his wife as well as other dignitaries.
“We are today here assembled on what is a historical occasion in the affairs of Zambia – to lay the foundation stone of our university – and, as the first Chancellor of this University, I welcome you all, for it is indeed a pleasure to behold this august gathering representing most of the countries of the world and their universities,” Dr Kaunda said in his opening remarks.
Dr Kaunda said in a developing country, the expansion of primary and secondary education was logical, but that the modern day age demanded technical education.
He said in the field of higher education, there was need to look up to universities so as to produce the scientists, engineers, doctors and members of eminent professions which every country needed.
“Our universities are centres of learning and culture, able to attract scholars from all countries and continents. We are laying the founding not just of this university, but of this nation, not just of these buildings rising around us, but of the intellectual development of our youth,” he stressed.
The first schools to be opened were that of Natural Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, but with a comprehensive range of new professional schools like Agricultural Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, Education, Law and Social Work, each of which he said required special and expensive facilities.
Dr Kaunda emphasised on the need to promote research, saying it was very vital and significant, be it in educational, statistical, engineering, and scientific or industrial fields.
He said Zambia’s primary needs were to establish or expand research in agriculture, forestry and fisheries as well as supplement and encourage research by industry and government in relation to the country’s mineral wealth.
“May our new university speedily arise and may its faculty through endeavour and perseverance bring to it the degree of eminence in learning that it truly deserves,” he said.
And Mr Mwanakatwe said government recognised the value of technical education at all levels such that adequate funding was to be provided in the education budget for existing and new projects.
It was planned to accelerate the training of skilled operatives and craftsmen by establishing modern trade schools in every province, also to expand secondary technical education facilities and to provide generously for new facilities, particularly technician training in construction, engineering and applied science.
“By 1969-70 it is anticipated that subject to the planned building programme being maintained, the output of necessary craftsmen and technicians will be approaching estimated manpower requirements, while the first products of our secondary technical school system will be available for technologist training at the University or for higher technician training at the senior colleges,” he said.
It is clearly from this about how serious the founding fathers were determined to see to it that science and technology took centre stage as the only way to advance development of the country.
Mr Mwanankwatwe also pointed out that the university buildings were to be constructed with funds from three sources which were the Zambian Government, the British government, which contributed 1 million Pounds, and the Zambians who donated generously to the funraising campaign.
“Therefore, it is to the people of Zambia today that we should now turn and publicly acknowledge their magnificent response to the national appeal for funds. Up to date over 435,000 British Pounds has been raised, some through large donations, but the remainder by small donations from the very many of our citizens from all parts of Zambia,” he said.
Mr Mwanankatwe projected that the University of Zambia faced a challenge of training 1,500 Zambians to higher technologists or degree level by 1975 while 2000 will have to be trained for business management or accountancy, and within the period the ever-increasing need for other professions such as teachers, nurses, scientists, engineers would continue.
“Our aim and policy is to provide the facilities for training at all levels within Zambia itself and from 1966 onwards we shall look to the University for the undergraduate training so essential and beneficial to our school leavers and to become a centre of eminence for intellectual attainment,” he said.
And Dr Anglin in his speech pointed out that “to open a university with over 300 students within two years of the establishment of the University Council and especially, to plan this magnificent campus, represents a near miracle”.
He noted that the location of a site for Zambia’s first public university has not been without controversy as there has been varied reasons advanced as to why and where the institution o of high learning should be constructed.
Dr Anglin said among the experts who had looked into the matter, there has been unanimity that Lusaka was considered the only choice.
“The cartmel-Robinson Commission in 1949, the Carr-Saunders Commission in 1953 and the Lockwood Commission in 1963 all agreed on the choice of Lusaka,” he said.
According to the Lockwood Report, it stated that “will…be so significantly concerned with the needs of Government in many fields that it must be close to the seat of Government”.
Dr Anglin said the Lockwood team emphatically denied that their decision in favour of Lusaka was in any way based on “considerations of mere prestige, either of the Capital or of the University”.
He said the experts were guided by the need for practical working arrangements which would be “to the best advantage of both Government and the university”.
Dr Anglin added that the argument on the recommendation was decisive in overruling the desire for Ndola on the Copperbelt as the location for the University since it was the industrial and technological heartland of the country than in the allegedly artificial atmosphere inevitable in a city which is primarily a political capital.
However, Dr Anglin said the team of British and American Consultants of engineering education in Zambia reported that the decision to locate the School of Engineering o n the Campus in Lusaka, “the advantages which might accrue from placing it in the Copperbelt would be outweighed by the disadvantages of separating it from the other schools and from the University environment”.
He hinted that in countries where students are a significant force in national politics, it has sometimes been thought prudent to isolate them from the centre of affairs for reasons of security.
“This has never been a consideration in Zambia. We hope, however, to take alternative and positive steps to ensure that our students are able to maintain their roots among the people,” he said.
And Dr Anglin noted that the cannot avoid to rear an elite sector of people from the university graduates but was quick to state that the institution of higher learning trust that the elite will display the rare qualities that the country desperately needs which is democratic instinct, sensitivity to suffering, an abhorrence of injustice and not the more unfortunate characteristics that have given elites elsewhere such a bad name.
“In the final analysis, it is on the quality of our students and the scholarship of our staff that we will and must be judged and not the beauty of our buildings,” Dr Anglin said.
Sure, as his submission, the institution stands out as having churned out and continued to churn quality educated cadre of graduates t fit in all placement of work both locally and international.
The dreams and desires of our forefathers were not in vain what with the spirit of unity and patriotism demonstrated by many a Zambian who sacrificed al they had to see to it that their beloved country have an institution of higher learning. As we explore further in this University of Zambia Golden Jubilee, let us look at the various contributions gained so far in the next column as we walk down memory lane.