GTH holds first symposium for Academics on peace studies.
17 August 2009, saw 24 academics from universities and colleges around Zimbabwe, congregate in Bulawayo for the “Teaching peace studies in universities and colleges” symposium, hosted by Grace To Heal and the Theological college of Zimbabwe.
This symposium is part of GTH's efforts to establish an institute for Peacebuilding and Research, which is meant to encourage academic discourse on peace issues and provide resources and research to educational institutions and their students and other organisations interested in peace issues. The institute will provide a platform for high level interactions among academics, capacity development for lecturers teaching peace. It is hoped the institute will also provide peace practitioners, who cannot undertake fulltime studies due to work commitments, with an opportunity to study while at work.
We were privileged to have Prof. Geoff Harris, the head of the Conflict Resolution and Peace studies at the University of KwaZulu Natal, where two of the staff members are students. The Institutions represented included, the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, United College of Education, Bulawayo, Lupane State University (currently based in Bulawayo), Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Masvingo Teachers' College, Masvingo Polytechnic College, Bindura University of Science Education, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe Open University, Bulawayo and Gwanda, Hillside Teachers' College, Bulawayo, University of Zimbabwe School of Social Work, Harare and the Theological College of Zimbabwe.
The aims of this presentation were to present the case for the study of conflict, violence and peace in institutions of higher learning and to discuss ways in which this might be done. Although most universities have introduced some form of peace studies, they lack resources and staff who are trained in this field. The colleges have not yet reached this stage. We hope to establish a similar programme and network among the colleges and to continue to interact with both universities and colleges as we try to encourage the introduction of the course in all institutions of higher learning.
The following were suggestions made at the end of the symposium:
- GTH needs to help produce samples of curricula that can be shown to the authorities in the universities and colleges.
- That GTH continues to be proactively involved with these institutions and to facilitate the following:
- Empower the faculty through workshops, seminars and other in service training and in the long run a training programme on teaching peace studies.
- Provide resources in the form of books, articles, etc for the lecturers and students doing research.
- GTH could coordinate the publication of a peace journal
There was a high level of participation from all the delegates and a lot of useful information was gleaned from the discussions. However the participants felt that a day did not do much justice to the proceedings. There were discussion points that could have used a bit more time but due to time constraints, they had to be hurried through.
We intend to hold at least two such symposia in the coming year and there after. The lessons learnt from this one will certainly come in handy in the future.
We are grateful to one of our partners the Mennonite Central Committee for making this possible.
NB. Prof. Harris' presentation will be published in the “Higher Education” journal in 2010; however copies are available on request.
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