The Copperbelt University is a public university in

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. It is the second largest

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

after The University of Zambia. The language of instruction at the university is English.

Overview

The Copperbelt University is a public university established through

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

No. 19 of 1987. It currently operates from five campuses: Jambo Drive Main Campus, Parklands Campus, Ndola Campus,Kapasa Makasa Campus and TAZARA Campus. The TAZARA campus is currently offering only Railway, Mechanical and Electromechanical Engineering. These campuses are located in

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

an areas in the cities of Kitwe,

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

and

Chinsali Chinsali is a town in Zambia, which is both the district headquarters of Chinsali District and provincial headquarters of Muchinga Province. Location It lies just off the road between Mpika and Isoka (Tanzam Highway; Zambia's Great North Roa ...

in the Copperbelt and

Muchinga Province Muchinga Province is one of the ten provinces of Zambia. It is located in the northeast of the country and borders with Tanzania in the north, Malawi in the east, Eastern Province in the south, Central Province in the southwest, Luapula Province ...

s of Zambia. The Copperbelt university has the biggest

school of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

in the country, offering a variety of engineering fields as bachelor's degrees with honors. It is the first institution in Southern Africa to offer

Mechatronics Mechatronics engineering also called mechatronics, is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, ...

,as an achievement. The Copperbelt University has the biggest school of

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

, offering programs such as

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

Urban and Regional Planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

and Construction Economics Management (which also branches into

Quantity Surveying A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Cer ...

). The university's core business is to provide teaching, learning, research, consultancy and public service. These are carried out through its ten faculties: *School of Engineering **Bachelor's degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

(Hons). **Bachelor of Science in Construction Management **Diploma in Civil Engineering **Diploma in Construction **Bachelor of Engineering (with honors) Electrical Electronics **Bachelor of Engineering (with honors)

Telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

s **Bachelor's degree in

Mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

, **Bachelor of Engineering Mechatronics **Bachelor of Engineering

Aeronautical Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: Aeronautics, aeronautical engineering and Astronautics, astronautical engineering. A ...

. **Bachelor of Engineering in Electromechanical Engineering **Bachelor of Engineering in Railway. *School of

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

*School of

Natural Resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

*School of

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

*School of the

Built Environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

**Bachelor of Science in Real Estate **Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning **Bachelor of Science in Construction Economics Management **Bachelor of Arts in Architecture *School of

Information and Communication Technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...

**Bachelor of Science in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

**Diploma in Information Technology **Bachelor of Information Technology **Bachelor of Computer Engineering **Bachelor of Science in Information Systems *School of

Humanities and Social Sciences Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the tim ...

*Directorate of

Distance Education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

and

Open Learning Open learning is an innovative movement in education that emerged in the 1970s and evolved into fields of practice and study. The term refers generally to activities that either enhance learning opportunities within formal education systems or b ...

(DDEOL) *

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

*School of Mines and Mineral Sciences *bachelor of engineering in chemical engineering *Dag Hammarskjold Chair for Peace, Human Rights and

Conflict Management Conflict management is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects of conflict. The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance i ...

The Copperbelt University has about 15,900 students and produces an annual average of 1, 500 graduates who form a nucleus of experts in critical areas of national development. These include mining, banking, construction, environmental, agricultural, real estate, educational, medical, engineering and manufacturing sectors.

History

The Copperbelt University is a public university established through the Act of Parliament No. 19 of 1987. Prior to 1987, the university existed as a campus of the University of Zambia Federal System with two schools; namely: School of Business and Industrial Studies (SBIS) and School of Environmental Studies (SES). The campus was referred to as the University of Zambia at Ndola (UNZANDO) until 1 December 1987. As of 1 January 1989 the Zambia Institute of Technology (ZIT) was incorporated into the Copperbelt University to form the School of Technology. Since 1987, the university has significantly grown from only two faculties to ten by the end of 2013. The total number of students in 2017 was 11,900 and having had over 54,000 students in the past 25 years. The university too is proud of its graduates who are holding key responsibilities in various sectors of the economy within the country and beyond. At its first graduation ceremony in 1992, the university had only 100 students then graduating from the various disciplines but graduating average of 1,500 as at 2017. In 2014, the School of Medicine received US$1 million in donation from the Council of Zambian Jewry, of the African Jewish Congress and the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...

. On September 9, 2020, Mafishi, a large fish that was housed in a pond at the university died. The fish was said to bring good luck to students taking exams. President

Edgar Lungu Edgar Chagwa Lungu (born 11 November 1956) is a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 25 January 2015 to 24 August 2021. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Fo ...

joined the nation in mourning.

Notable alumni

* Felix C Mutati, the former minister of finance, studied accountancy at CBU (UNZANDO) * Margaret Mhango Mwanakatwe, the former Zambian Minister of Finance studied her

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

at CBU (UNZANDO).

Affiliations

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was established in 1913, and has over 500 member institutions in over 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU is the world's oldest international network of universities. Its mission is ...

; Association of African Universities; African Council for Distance Education; Southern African Regional Universities and is a signatory to the SADC Protocol on

Higher Education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Universities in Zambia Kitwe Forestry education Buildings and structures in Copperbelt Province Educational institutions established in 1987 1987 establishments in Zambia