Online Reporter
Takunda Gambiza and Takudzwa Mangrozah
THE Public Service Commission (PSC) and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) have called for stronger collaboration among academia, the Government and industry to accelerate industrialisation, innovation and national development during a public lecture held at the university in Harare.
Public Service Commission chairman, Dr Vincent Hungwe, said universities must move beyond producing graduates with theoretical knowledge and instead focus on practical problem-solving.
“Research must not end in journals, but must find expression in factories, systems, policies and communities,” said Dr Hungwe.
He said Zimbabwe’s universities were now confronting the gap between “knowing” and “doing” through the Education 5.0 philosophy, which promotes innovation, industrialisation and modernisation.
“Universities must be active architects of public administration and management, service delivery, industrialisation, and inclusive and sustainable social and economic growth,” he said.
Dr Hungwe said the PSC was implementing reforms to modernise the public sector and improve service delivery through technology and skills development.
“Some of the strategic cases in point regarding public sector reform and modernisation include digitalisation of recruitment processes, performance management, monitoring, evaluation and learning,” he said.
He said the PSC was also strengthening partnerships with universities to align research and innovation with national development priorities.
“The PSC is not just a human resource body, it is the engine of public sector capability,” said Dr Hungwe.
He warned that fragmented policies, weak industry-academia collaboration and limited funding for applied research continued to hinder innovation and industrial growth.
“To overcome these barriers, a fundamental shift in mindset is required across faculty, students, institutional leadership, and policymakers alike,” he said.
UZ Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo said Africa remained trapped in poverty despite its vast natural resources because it continued exporting raw materials instead of finished products and technology.
“Education determines whether nations become producers or perpetual consumers,” said Prof Mapfumo.
He said universities must lead industrial transformation by producing goods, services and technologies that benefit communities.
“We are saying, let’s produce something. Even just a potato,” he said.
Prof Mapfumo said the university had embraced Education 5.0 to transform higher education into a driver of economic growth and industrialisation.
“We embrace data products, not just graduates,” he said.
He also challenged students and researchers to prioritise evidence-based innovation and technological development.
“As a nation, we need to generate data. We need to generate evidence,” said Prof Mapfumo.
UZ executive director for Research, Innovation and Industrialisation Professor Florence Mtambanengwe said the university’s annual Research, Innovation and Industrialisation Week continued to grow since its introduction in 2019.
“We received over 650 abstracts,” she said.
She said over a quarter of the submissions focused on artificial intelligence, ICTs and digital transformation, indicating Zimbabwe’s increasing shift towards technology-driven development.
