Blended Education College of Southern Africa sets the pace in equipping aspiring teachers

Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter

BLENDED Education College of Southern Africa (BECSA) is currently enrolling students for a skills course in mushroom production – a programme which is used to Finance/LIFT those students who may need assistance in financing other programmes.

Such programmes include the Teacher Education Diploma, Software Engineering, Telecommunications, among others.

LIFT is an acronym for Learn, Innovate, Finance and is designed that after completion students will learn and apply what they have learnt; ensure innovation is continual from what they have learnt; finance their passion through education that pays for itself and finally transform the lives of those close to them and in their communities.

The massive drive is meant to kick-start in May 2023 and has attracted the attention of a lot of school leavers, young and old. The programme accommodates people according to their qualifications with or without Ordinary Levels and with or without finances, one is suitably placed.

BECSA is the only trust run teacher’s college which is an associate of the University of Zimbabwe at the heart of Bulawayo.

Its values are driven on passion, innovation, integrity, transformation and inclusivity and with the mandate to serve the greater part of the country and the international community towards developing a knowledgeable, skilful and technologically versatile citizens for local and global competitiveness.

BECSA has always seen that blended learning is the future in achieving Zimbabwe to its status of being an upper middle-income society by 2030 through Education 5.0 hence the name of the college.

The college has set the bar high in equipping prospective teachers.
Its first graduates to be certified by the University of Zimbabwe by year-end attained a 92 percent pass rate and are ardent to ensuring that Zimbabwe is turned into an upper middle-income society by 2030.

So intense is this mandate that the college has seen the use of Information Communication Technologies (ITCs) at the institution that every student uses a laptop courtesy of a financing facility offered by the sister company, Eduloan.

The implementation of blended learning allows the use of a robust learning through eBECSA, a management system which is module-based and enables students to learn from wherever they are and have limited contact time on campus.

One of the founding trustees, Mrs Rosemary Sibanda, a doctoral candidate in strategy said the focus of the college was to produce a technically competent individual with a mindset to transform lives, create jobs and impact the communities.

BECSA from inception was founded on values of removing access boundaries to education. Mrs Sibanda said students started using blended methodologies way before Covid-19 as each student had a laptop placed in their hands at registration through financing organised by Eduloan.

Mrs Sibanda said International Education trends were such that people no longer need to gather and be limited geographically as well as be in brick and mortar buildings.

“The establishment of a private teacher’s college gives us agility to respond to student and stakeholder needs as there are no bottlenecks to policy change. When a need is identified solutions are implemented.

BECSA has a combination of young technological versatile IT personnel who have been blended with veterans who have experience in running traditional colleges.

This is part of the knowledge retention programme in ensuring that tacit and tactile knowledge is not confined but shared through generations and generations to come.

“As the only Trust-run teacher’s college which is an Associate of the University of Zimbabwe we are governed and monitored for standards the same way the traditional colleges quality is assured.

We have a deliberate in-house quality assurance department where the college is ISO 9001-2015 QMS walk and strives to be the only ISO certified college by 2025. The processes are clear and leave an audit trail with the students qualifying currently suitable for the current environment.

Since they learn through ICTs the students are trained to teach through the same. Our students therefore are fit for purpose for local and global competitiveness,” she said.

Mrs Sibanda submitted that whether it’s a short course, up-skilling or capacity development, if one needed an edge in their career and have been wondering which college to choose from, they should look no further than BECSA, which exists to provide a greater way to further one’s exploration of the academic world and opens doors to new career possibilities.

The college is situated at 12 Tyre House Buildings at Corner 10th Avenue and George Silundika in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Landline : +263(292) 63613/4. Call / App : +263 77 517 0072 ; +263 78 080 1794. Email : [email protected]. Website : www.becsa.ac.zw.