adminCharmaine Brown and Natasha Kokai
Government is set to engage investors to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure for higher and tertiary education institutions through Public Private Partnerships, as part of the attainment of Vision 2030.
Speaking during the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust breakfast meeting in Harare on Wednesday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development deputy director Ms Maria Adriano said the ministry was set to engage various investors to discuss how to develop a formal infrastructure for education.
The breakfast meeting was organised by the Students’ Academic Freedom Regional Advocacy Programme in order to discuss issues concerning student academic freedom.
“The Ministry shall engage investors to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure for Higher and Tertiary Education institutions through Public Private Partnerships, Build Operations and Transfers and other transfer arrangements,” said Ms Adriano.
“The inter-linkages of our institutions of higher learning both in research collaborations and credit transfer to enable student mobility as guided by the Zimbabwe National Qualifications Framework shall be key in turning the higher and tertiary education, science and technology development sector into an export product.”
Ms Adriano said the main aim was to cultivate an inspiring environment for nurturing students.
She said the Ministry adopted two additional missions that are innovation and industrialisation, effectively re-orienting Education 3.0 to Education 5.0 in order to deliver a competitive, industrialised and modernised Zimbabwe.
“The Government shall execute the vision of universities, modern accommodation infrastructure as well as constructing more innovation hubs,” said Ms Adriano. “Our aim is to cultivate an inspiring environment for nurturing our students.
“The Government of Zimbabwe realised the need to provide a sustainable funding mechanism for students and the Loan Guarantee Scheme was put in place to assist students in paying fees.
“The main principle underpinning the ministry’s programmes is that knowledge which does not result into goods and services is knowledge that is not useful at all in advancing Zimbabwe’s strategic vision of becoming a competitive, industrialised and modernised nation by 2030.”
Education 5.0 system is anchored on teaching, research, community service, innovations and industrialisation.
The model involves the building of state-of-the-art hostels for students, office blocks and shopping malls at universities on Public Private Partnerships or Build Operate and Transfer models.
Online Reporter