Zambia

Achieving a university education is still the key to status. The first institution of higher education in the country, the University of Zambia in Lusaka, was officially opened in 1966, two years after the attainment of Zambian independence. The second university is the Copperbelt University, which was until 1987 part of the University of Zambia (UNZA). The Zambia Institute of Technology, which was part of the Department of Technical Education and Vocational Training (WEVT), is now merged with the Copperbelt University. The former offers courses in agriculture, education, engineering, humanities and social sciences, law, medicine, mining, natural sciences, and veterinary medicine, but only business, industrial, and environmental studies are available at Kitwe. The basic program is four years, although engineering and medical courses are of five and seven years' duration, respectively. Despite financial constraints the education sector has experienced, university enrollments have risen steadily. As a result of financial problems, certain economic measures were introduced in 1989, which aimed at cost recovery and sharing of costs, by the beneficiaries of university education. These measures are expected to change the pattern of enrollment in universities as well as the output on long term development of the university. It is envisaged that the government shall upgrade the entry to the university from 101 levels to 'A' levels and the normal course degree studies will be reduced to three years.

Other tertiary-level institutions include 14 primary school teacher training colleges with 1 correspondence college and 2 in-service teachers colleges. In addition a few agriculture teachers are trained at the National Resources Development College (NRDC), an agriculture college. There is also a privately owned teachers college.