Two Zim students receive Rhodes scholarship

By Newsday | Nov. 17, 2021 | 2 Min read

Macdonald Mutekwa and Kudzai Mbinda will attend Oxford, on full scholarship, to pursue postgraduate studies beginning next year.

BY ARNOLD FANDISO

TWO Zimbabweans have been selected for the 2022 Oxford university scholarship programme.O

Macdonald Mutekwa and Kudzai Mbinda will attend Oxford, on full scholarship, to pursue postgraduate studies beginning next year.

In a statement, Rhodes Trust said Mutekwa and Mbinda will join a global community that has grown since the first award of the scholarship in 1903.

“The process of selecting two Rhodes Scholars from Zimbabwe, every year, allows us a glimpse into the future of our country. The selection committee and I are always very encouraged that we have successive generations of capable young people who can, and will contribute the best of their intellect and energy for our country’s benefit,” Dalumuzi Mhlanga the Zimbabwe National Secretary of the Rhodes Trust said.

“We reviewed dozens of applications from young people in areas such as medicine, engineering, mathematics, actuarial science, law and the social sciences. They all shared a deep and unwavering commitment to impacting their communities, and it is truly amazing the lengths they have gone to excel outside the classroom, as much as they have in their studies.”

Mbinda, a final-year chemical engineering student at the University of Rochester in the USA said: “I plan to leverage the knowledge and network that I develop at Oxford to contribute to the development of the industrial sector in Zimbabwe by using business as a tool to drive growth.”

Mutekwa who holds a first-class degree in aeronautical engineering from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China said: “Being selected and announced as a Rhodes Scholar-elect for Zimbabwe was and remains a surreal experience particularly from such an amazing group of equally talented and motivated Finalists who continue to inspire me as my peers.”