Online Reporter
Trust Freddy-Herald Correspondent
HIGHER and Tertiary Education Minister Dr Frederick Shava has ordered immediate structural and digital reforms at the Tertiary Education Service Council and the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education to boost efficiency and align the sector with Education 5.0.
Following tours of both regulators’ Harare offices yesterday, Dr Shava directed TESC to secure Treasury funding by getting listed in the National Budget “Blue Book” and to eliminate conflicting reporting lines with the ministry.
“Going forward, it is important that TESC positions itself not merely as an administrative body, but as a strategic enabler of transformation within the tertiary education sector,” said Minister Shava.
To clean up operational deficiencies at TESC, the minister demanded immediate, direct engagement with Treasury to rectify the council’s financial omission from the National Budget allocation framework, popularly known as the Blue Book.
“The issue of limited funding, including the absence of TESC in the Blue Book, must be urgently addressed.”
“Engagement with Treasury should be prioritised to secure sustainable funding and institutional stability.”
He also instructed the council to roll out a Human Resource Management Integrated System and adopt a competitive conditions of service package to stop brain drain.
At ZIMCHE, the Minister praised its work on academic standards and foreign qualification audits, but ordered urgent salary reviews and the rehabilitation of its Hatfield offices for independence from universities it regulates.
Dr Shava further mandated ZIMCHE to digitise qualification verification, introduce pre-departure clearance for students going abroad, and draft Zimbabwe’s first AI policy for higher education.
“Digitise and automate the assessment and verification of foreign qualifications to enhance efficiency and reduce delays.
“Implement pre-departure clearance for students enrolling in foreign universities to prevent wastage of time and resources on programmes that may not be recognised upon completion.”
Welcoming the Minister’s directives, ZIMCHE chief executive officer, Professor Kuzvinetsa Peter Dzvimbo, said local academic research has been strictly re-engineered to meet the practical, socio-economic, and industrial needs of the country.
“The research that is taking place in those institutions, it’s meant to address the issue of industrialising this country,” Prof Dzvimbo said.
“It is meant to make sure that this country is developed economically, politically, socially, industrially, and in every aspect that makes this country a winning country. This is what the President always emphasises on several occasions—that the country is built by its own people, nyika inovakwa nevene vayo.”
