Chronicle Editor
EDUCATION 5.0 model that the Second Republic through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development adopted, is already paying dividends as evidenced by the increasing number of graduates starting their own projects soon after graduation.
The 2023 overall best female student at Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE), Ms Natasha Matare says she intends to start a biotechnology company.
Ms Matare who studied Biotechnology was one of the recipients of the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa cash prizes.
The overall best male student Mr Cuthbert Muromba who obtained a first class degree in Animal Science and Technology and also received a cash prize from President Mnangagwa at the BUSE graduation ceremony last Friday, said he already has a piggery project he is running.
President Mnangagwa who normally gives the two overall best students US$1 000 each, was impressed by this year’s BUSE overall best students and increased the cash prize to US$2 000 each.
Ms Matare said she will use her prize money to pursue her lifetime ambition of starting a biotechnology company while Mr Muromba said he will use the windfall to boost his piggery project.
What is pleasing is that Zimbabwe’s institutions of higher learning are now churning out graduates whose focus is on creating jobs as opposed to seeking employment.
We now have many graduates across the country who have taken a lead in the country’s modernisation and industrialisation programme by starting their own projects. The universities and polytechnics apart from churning out graduates that produce goods and services, have established innovation hubs which are now leading the country’s industrialisation programme.
The nation is now enjoying the fruits of the Government’s deliberate policies to promote a results-based education system. The institutions of higher learning have all taken heed of the Government’s call to leapfrog the country’s development through science and technology hence the new industries being established across the country.
The National University of Science and Technology (Nust), the Midlands State University (MSU) and Great Zimbabwe University took the lead in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic by manufacturing face masks, sanitisers and other consumables while the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) produced oxygen gas that was required by the seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
The oxygen and nitrogen is also benefitting industry and the agricultural sector.
Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) has built a state-of-the-art facility that produces and stores at least seven million semen straws per year and this has gone a long way in improving the quality of the country’s national herd.
These innovation projects by the different institutions of higher learning are a confirmation that our institutions of higher learning have responded positively to President Mnangagwa’s call for them to produce graduates capable of producing transformative innovations which he said are critical for Zimbabwe to achieve rapid modernisation.
These institutions have already demonstrated that given the necessary support they can address many of the country’s economic challenges. Technological innovation underpins Zimbabwe’s endeavour to industrialise and create a prosperous economy.
Our universities and polytechnics are fast becoming centres of excellence in science education which is the thrust of the Second Republic. Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo (Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo).
Online Reporter