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Mobility Promotional Event held at University of Zimbabwe, Harare Zimbabwe
On 23 November 2023, the African Student and Alumni Forum (ASAF) held a mobility promotional event at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in Harare. This event was graced by the ASAF Vice-President Mr Alexandre Zoumman, the UZ representative of the Vice Chancellor Mrs Tsitsi Roselene Gonzo and the ASAF Co-Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Custody Chikambure, as well as two other ASAF Board members.
The event saw over 400 hundred students doubling the number we anticipated at first. The opening of the program saw Tsitsi Gonzo who was representing the the University of Zimbabwe’s Vice Chancellor. Mrs Gonzo highlighted how European-funded scholarships have benefited higher education institutes across the country, and explained how students can fully benefit from this funding.
Since 2016, Erasmus+ has sponsored academic mobility programmes, enabling students from Zimbabwe to study abroad for up to a year. From 2016 to 2020, students and staff have participated in two-way mobility between Zimbabwe and Europe, with 79 individuals traveling to Europe and 54 to Zimbabwe.
Afterwards, the ASAF Co-Ambassador for Zimbabwe, Mr Custody Chikambure, echoed Mrs Gonzo’s words, encouraging students to tap into the opportunities that will be availed during this event. He also emphasized the need for students to give due diligence when preparing their applications in order to secure mobility scholarships.
ASAF Board Member, Mrs Juliet Kasozzi, expanded on this, presenting the mission, vision and goals of ASAF and how the network was founded to support students in making the most of the Erasmus+ programme and other available EU scholarships.
ASAF Vice-President, Mr Alexandre Zoumman, then demonstrated how to apply for these scholarships using the EU portal. He also stressed the need to prepare good references which may be obtained from a home university.
The event concluded with personal testimonials from three Zimbabwe ASAF members, who shared their experiences during their mobilities , , laying out the challenges they faced during their stay abroad and how they overcame them.
The floor was then opened to a lively question-and-answer session where students asked many questions related to what had been presented during the event. Many of these questions were written down and will be compiled and in a question and answer form which will be shared with the attendees in a WhatsApp platform group.
Custody Chikambure, coambassador.zimbabwe@asaf.africa
Zimbabwe, Harare, 23/11/2023
