INDEPENDENT national television station, 3Ktv, is continuing to grow from strength to strength.
This comes as top higher education institution, the Women’s University in Africa (WUA), has once again entrusted the fast-growing station to beam live today’s momentous opening of the regional offices of the Association of African Universities (AAU) at WUA’s Manresa campus in Harare.
3Ktv has forged a close and mutually beneficial working relationship with WUA over the past two years — which has seen the country’s first private television station regularly broadcasting live the renowned university’s keenly-followed graduation ceremonies.
AAU secretary-general, Olusola Oyewole, told the Daily News yesterday that the notable opening of its regional office in Zimbabwe was in line with its objective of advancing higher education in Africa.
“For Southern Africa, our regional office is going to be located in the Women’s University in Africa in Harare, and through this regional office we will be able to provide services, support and partnerships to universities in the southern part of Africa.
“Our focus is to see to the advancement of higher education on the continent and to help universities to become even more relevant to their countries, their communities and indeed to Africa. “In the AAU, we promote collaboration and partnerships among universities, and we connect universities to developments in the area of higher education in the continent,” Oyewole said.
“We also carry out capacity building activities to enhance the skills and competencies of stakeholders in the university system, especially the leadership such as the vice chancellor, the registrars, the librarians and the bursars in the university system.
“We are also involved in promoting quality assurance in the African higher education space.
“Right now we are promoting digitalisation in ICT and we are helping universities to connect to research and modern developments, especially in the area of artificial intelligence, among others,” Oyewole added. On her part, WUA vice chancellor, Sunungurai Chingarande, said it was a great honour for her university to host AAU’s regional offices.
“This milestone means a lot to us as a university that is mandated to foster gender equality in university education. “We believe this is a recognition and acknowledgement of the importance of promotion of gender equality and diversity in higher education in Africa.
“We are going to play our role as WUA in ensuring that we engender higher education within the region and also in Africa in general,” Chingarande said. 3Ktv a free-to-air (FTA) television station, which means that contrary to social media babble anyone with the right equipment — such as a digital TV set or suitable set-top box — can receive its programming for free wherever the signal is available.
However, 3Ktv’s feed is also available through other platforms for which subscription fees may be payable, which explains the commercial station’s most valued partnership with MultiChoice — which has seen it also hosted on DStv’s channel 293.
Licensed in November 2020 after coming up tops in a competitive, open bidding process, the station went live amid palpable excitement in the country on February 28, 2022.
In the process, the most watched local channel on satellite made history and became the first private station to operate legally in Zimbabwe since television was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in November 1960.
