Chronicle Editor
ZIMBABWE’S institutions of higher learning which include universities and polytechnics continue to play a leading role in the implementation of the country’s industrialisation and modernisation programme as evidenced by the many factories that are being established by the institutions’ innovation hubs.
Government, through the institutions of higher learning, is establishing new industries as it works to grow the economy and uplift the livelihoods of its citizens across the country.
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.
The universities and polytechnics have established innovation hubs which are now leading the country’s industrialisation programme.
On Thursday President Mnangagwa commissioned Mutare Teachers’ College’s Fruit and Water Processing Plant. The plant which will produce fruit juice from baobab, pineapples, bananas and guavas found in the area, is a product of the college’s innovation hub.
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.
Mutare Teachers’ College has joined other institutions of higher learning that have established factories whose feedstock is the natural resources found in their respective areas.
President Mnangagwa has challenged the institutions of higher learning to accelerate the commercialisation and market penetration of their various products and goods coming out of their innovation hubs.
“We must now see more of your products on our shop shelves across the country,” said President Mnangagwa.
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 are also benefiting 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 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