A University for the Povo? The socio-economic background of African University students in Zimbabwe since independence

This article presents and discusses empirical research whose main objective has been to determine changes in the socio-economic background of African university students in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. While it has been frequently asserted that the access of the povo (the 'people' - referrring to the low-income majority) to the University of Zimbabwe has improved significantly, a major finding of the research is that the representation of students from peasant and unskilled and semi-skilled occupational backgrounds did not increase appreciably during the 1980s, and that students from professional family backgrounds were over represented eight times at the university.