Rutendo Nyeve
UNIVERSITIES cannot produce graduates who fit industry, but should produce critical thinkers able to match and co-evolve with industry needs, HR expert and executive Dr Farai Ncube has said.
Dr Ncube said this in an interview on the sidelines of the IPMZ 2026 HR Symposium in Victoria Falls on Tuesday, calling for a deliberate shift towards funding technical upskilling.
Dr Ncube said Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 and National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) make it clear that human capital is the country’s key competitive advantage, but this requires complementary efforts from three stakeholders: academic institutions, industry and government.
“One of the key issues that we need to unpack is that according to our vision 2030 and NDS2, it is clear that human capital is what we have as a country. And that is going to give us a relative competitive advantage,” he said.
“In order for that to happen, we have a complementary effort that should come from three stakeholders. Stakeholder number one is obviously the academic institutions that are producing the people that we are channelling into the industry. Stakeholder number two is obviously the industry that is going to absorb the students that are coming from the institutions of higher learning. And then stakeholder number three is the government through the policies that they put in place that will make sure that they retain the skill that we need.”
He said synergy between industry, government and academia should influence university curricula, with industry identifying skills gaps and government regulating priority areas.
“But what is important to note is that universities can’t produce graduates that fit the industry. Universities produce critical thinkers that should be able to match and co-evolve with what industry needs. I think that has to be a little bit clear,” Dr Ncube said.
He dismissed the common argument that universities are failing because they do not produce industry-fit graduates.
“It’s not about universities producing graduates that fit the industry. It’s about the universities producing graduates that are able to co-evolve with the changes that are happening in the industry,” he said.
Dr Ncube also called for a deliberate funding shift towards technical upskilling, citing India and China.
“India is emphasising more on what we call indigenous technology, they have funded more, not only universities, but polytechnics,” he said.
“For me, it makes sense to go and produce graduates that add value. But when we fund more of universities that are producing employees, at the end of the day, we will have a crisis. So in order to solve that, we need to have that balance.”
He added that professional bodies, particularly in HR, should help design curricula and identify gaps.
However, he insisted universities’ primary role is to produce critical thinkers who can adapt across sectors such as mining, hospitality, and transport.
“It’s not about them having specific skills that target a specific environment. It’s about the student having knowledge and the ability to adjust to suit every environment,” Dr Ncube said.
