Moscow – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has met Zimbabwean students studying in Russia, using his visit to Moscow for the third Russia-Africa Summit to hear their concerns about qualifications, safety and access to start-up funding.
The meeting took place at the Zimbabwean Embassy in Moscow, where the President continued what he described as a tradition of engaging with Zimbabwean students studying away from home.
“It is always a pleasure to meet and interact with the brilliant young minds representing our great nation abroad,” Mnangagwa wrote in a post on his official platforms after the gathering.
He called the students “the true ambassadors of Zimbabwe,” and said he came away deeply impressed by their commitment to academic excellence. Many of them are enrolled in demanding programmes in engineering, medicine, science and advanced technology.
According to the President, the conversation was frank and constructive. The students put three key issues on the table: the mutual recognition of qualifications between Zimbabwe and Russia, their safety while living abroad, and whether funds would be available to help them launch start-ups once they complete their studies.
Recognition of foreign degrees has long been a worry for African graduates returning from Russian universities, with some facing delays or extra requirements before they can practise in fields such as medicine and engineering at home.
Mnangagwa said he assured the group that the Second Republic, the name his administration uses for the government formed after he took office in 2017, remains fully committed to their welfare and to building an environment in which they can thrive.
He tied the students’ future to Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030, the national development blueprint that aims to turn the country into an empowered, upper-middle-income society by the end of the decade. The plan, he said, is to bring these highly skilled young specialists directly into local production value chains.
The President urged the students to concentrate on their studies, take in global innovations and eventually return home with that knowledge “to build the Zimbabwe we all want.”
More than one thousand Zimbabwean students are currently studying at Russian universities on scholarships, in fields that include natural sciences, technology, medicine and nuclear science. Education has become one of the pillars of the relationship between Harare and Moscow, alongside trade, finance and agriculture.
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