Francis Machingura – författare

Arguing for a holistic approach to student support, this book explores how to better serve students in African settings through the services and programmes offered at universities, providing empirical studies, case studies and theoretical explorations from four Southern African countries.Acknowledging the ultimate role of student support services in improving and enhancing the overall student experience, the book includes voices and perspectives of lecturers, students and support staff to gain an on-the-ground understanding of challenges faced. Chapters cover a wealth of themes related to student support and services, such as accommodation and student life, sexual and gender-based violence support services and ICT services, and explore educational settings in Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Eswatini. The book explores areas for growth and the need for multi-level engagement and responsibility in higher education, where the obligation of curating an inclusive and conducive learning environment is shared amongst all key stakeholders. By shining a spotlight on African approaches and innovations, the book contributes underrepresented viewpoints to the established field of global higher education discourse.The book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of higher education, student affairs practice and higher education administration, as well as African studies. The book will provide useful insights more broadly for international scholars in the global south interested in student support and services in resource-constrained settings.

Religion and Sexuality in Zimbabwe highlights the complex interplay between religion and sexuality in Zimbabwe. It shows how religion both facilitates and complicates the expression of sexuality in Zimbabwe. Approaching religion from a broader perspective, this volume reviews the impact of African Indigenous Religions and Christianity in its varied forms on the construction and expression of sexuality in Zimbabwe. These contributors examine the role of indigenous beliefs, as well as interpretations of sacred texts, in the understanding of sexuality in Zimbabwe. They also address themes relating to sexual diversity and sexual and gender-based violence. Overall, this book sheds light on the ongoing relevance and strategic role of religion to contemporary discourses on human sexuality.

This book examines the controversial issues surrounding the desire for titles (both earned and unearned) in Zimbabwe and beyond. The desire for titles is often associated with the quest for status, power, class, and recognition. Unfortunately, this desire has resulted in “faking” and the problem of distinguishing genuine PhDs from fake ones. The unscrupulous quest for fake degrees is referred to in this book as “Titlemania” or “Taitolomania.” The scramble for titles has not spared community leaders across the divide. Of concern is the failure of higher education students to use their earned titles to contribute to the search for solutions to societal problems through national technological development. The perspectives of the contributors in this volume provoke debates on the value of doctorates in Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular, considering that most PhD holders are not using their degrees to contribute to national development, production of goods and services, and the improvement of societal conditions.