Levi M. Nyagura is a Zimbabwean academic. He was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe in January 2003 and was subsequently reappointed for a second and third term, the latter of which ends in December 2017.
Levi Nyagura holds has a PhD in Education from an American university - Southern Illinois University. He has a background as a Mathematics Teacher; he graduated with a BSc degree in Mathematics in the United Kingdom and went on to complete a Graduate Certificate of Education at the University of Zimbabwe and later an MSc degree with the University of South Africa before doing his PhD in the United States.
Levi Nyagura controversially awarded a PhD degree to Grace Mugabe in 2014.
In 2015 Levi Nyagura controversially fired a senior university staffer Senior Assistant Registrar Ngaatendwe Takawira for allegedly procuring a small cap for Robert Mugabe which failed to fit during a graduation ceremony he officiated as Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe in October 2015; a decision later reversed by a Zimbabwean court.
Levi Nyagura has been widely criticized for presiding over the University of Zimbabwe's decline characterized by a failure to retain staff because of poor remuneration, politicization of the institution, purges of independent minded academics, and purges of senior academics who protested Levi Nyagura's leadership style. Levi Nyagura reportedly boasts of his penchant for firing staff and not renewing contracts.
Levi Nyagura has published mainly on teacher and student performance in Zimbabwe's schools, as well as overall school performance.