Scholarships Open Doors, Bring Talent into the Mainstream

14 Jul Scholarships Open Doors, Bring Talent into the Mainstream

Almost 700 students from 21 African countries graduated from Africa University in June, in a ceremony that featured the first cohort of the online Global Campus and a record number of students with the highest academic honor.

Africa University’s 32nd commencement ceremony on June 6 celebrated 698 graduating students with over 10% earning first-class honors, five doctoral and 125 master’s graduates. Female students made up the largest group at 54.6%.

Impressive statistics, but they don’t tell the whole story. 

Mercy Mazanga, a Zimbabwean student who majored in animal science, was a top performer in her college and highest performing female student university-wide in the class of 2026. 

Thanks to scholarship awards from the New York Conference endowment at Africa University, Mazanga said “what once seemed like a distant dream became a reality…”

“It puts an agricultural expert in every farmer’s pocket,” Gray explains. “This helps them increase yields, which means moving from subsistence to surplus. For a family, that provides reliable income for school fees and health care. It’s a powerful tool against poverty, and it’s a scalable blueprint that can be adapted for farmers across Africa.” 

Angelique Nzayisenga, displaced from Rwanda and living at the Tongogara Refugee Camp in Zimbabwe since 2007, is now a qualified social worker. Her four-year college journey was funded by an endowed scholarship set up in honor of Bishop Herbert F. Skeete by the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church.

“I can help my community by offering support, guidance and encouragement,” said Nzayisenga. “I can work professionally and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.”

About 108 Africa University scholarship beneficiaries or 1 in 7 graduands in the class of 2026 benefited from a scholarship or university financial aid grant, but when you look at the institution’s overall enrollment, the proportion of scholarship beneficiaries rises to one in three.

In the just-ended 2025-2026 academic year, more than 850 students or about 32 percent of the students enrolled at Africa University received grants that enabled them to pursue higher education qualifications. Africa University—whether from endowments or annual and one-time gifts from individuals, churches, and philanthropic organizations—provided 84 percent of funds disbursed. 

The remaining awards came from the university’s business partners, multilateral organizations and United Methodist Church agencies like Discipleship Ministries, Global Ministries/Higher Education and United Women in Faith.

The class of 2026 brings the total number of Africa University’s alumni to over 13,000, including five United Methodist episcopal leaders now serving in Africa — Bishops Mande Muyombo (North Katanga), Moisés Bernardo Jungo (East Angola), João Filimone Sambo (Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini and Madagascar), Emmanuel Sinzohagera (Burundi-Rwanda) and Nelson Kalombo Ngoy (Tanganyika).

Genius Mukichi, the 2026 valedictorian, encouraged his colleagues to go out and build communities.

“Let us write code that solves real problems, create systems that include rather than exclude, and live lives that leave people better than we found them. As we leave this beautiful campus in Mutare, let us remember that success is not defined only by how high you go alone, but also how many people you lift along the way.”

Africa University is the first and only fully accredited institution of higher learning established on the African continent by action of The United Methodist Church’s General Conference. It was founded in response to the call by African bishops for a university that would serve the whole of Africa.

The institution’s alumni are found serving in church leadership, national and civic organizations across the African continent true to its mantra: “Investing in Africa’s future.”

Adapted from an article by Eveline Chikwanah, a UM News correspondent based in Harare, Zimbabwe.