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Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
INSTITUTIONS of higher learning should keep pace with modern technological developments and produce competent graduates that can transform the country’s industry, a Cabinet Minister has said. Dr Olivia Muchena, the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, said the transformation of industry should start in colleges and universities.
“We need to deal with the technological changes at training level. A lot of technological changes are taking place and equipment use is changing very fast,” she told Chronicle at Bulawayo’s Hillside Teachers’ College on Friday during a tour of colleges in the city.
“Colleges should train people who are able to understand and adopt these changes. In fact our institutions should be ahead of technological changes,” Dr Muchena said.
She added: “Our polytechnics and vocational training centres should be transformed to offer demand-driven courses and entrepreneurship programmes in order to stay relevant to the needs of the economy and industry.”
Training institutions and industry, Dr Muchena said, should be geared to the changing technological systems and improved running of things.
“Unless the human resource is transformed, industry would not,” she said.
Dr Muchena said the programmes offered in different institutions she visited spoke so much about the ideals of the new economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).
“What we will do is to look at the programmes offered, assess their relevance to the economy and technological demands and make appropriate adjustments,” said Dr Muchena.
She said she was impressed by the expertise and programmes offered in different training institutions she visited in the region and commended the commitment by the staff members. Dr Muchena said the institutions submitted written briefs of the challenges they were facing and said her ministry would assess them and come up with appropriate action to assist them.
She said most challenges bordered around financing and commended the institutions for coming up with survival strategies through public private partnerships that have seen many centres being able to finance their projects, buy equipment such as vehicles, without relying on the Government.
Dr Muchena said institutions must take their programmes to the community and provide short courses that are tailor- made to meet the immediate needs of the communities. At Westgate Vocational Training Centre in Bulawayo, Dr Muchena, who was accompanied by her deputy, Dr Godfrey Gandawa, Permanent Secretary Dr Washington Mbizvo, senior ministry officials and principals from sister colleges, had the opportunity to interact with students who explained the different skills they had acquired in different trades such as mechanical engineering and electrical fields.
Dr Mbizvo said colleges and universities should demonstrate competency levels in their operations.
The minister and her delegation visited different institutions of higher learning in Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South on a familiarisation tour during which she was apprised of the programmes on offer and the challenges faced.
Online Reporter