Zimbabwe: Education 5.0 a Catalyst for Achieving Vision 2030

The world has moved into the fourth revolution, which is characterised by innovation and high end or cutting-edge industrial advancement. Zimbabwe is no exception as the country has adopted a new education curriculum which has a slant towards modern technological trends.

Previously, the education system in Zimbabwe was rated as Higher and Tertiary Education 3.0 (HTE 3.0). The HTE 3.0 model focused more on teaching, research and community service. The newly adopted model, HTE 5.0 focuses on innovation and industrialisation.
Since the turn of the century, the country has been isolated owing to the illegal sanctions imposed on it by the West.

This isolation resulted in the country technologically lagging behind by almost 20 years. In order to correct this position, the country has adopted HTE 5.0 seriously in order to retool and revive industry using the latest technology.

The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Professor Amon Murwira, has committed himself to see to it that the country’s education system spurs the country towards achieving Vision 2030, riding upon technological advancements and industrialisation. Prof Murwira’s thrust enjoys backing of President Mnangagwa, whose Vision 2030 is to transform the country’s economy into an upper-middle income by the year 2030.

Relatedly, Government has released $700 000 for the setting up of innovation hubs at State universities. The programme has already seen the first beneficiary universities being the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), the Midlands State University (MSU), the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), Zimbabwe Defence University and Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT). Completion of the infrastructure for the hubs is at the tertiary institutions is at different stages.
HIT has not disappointed as it recently announced that it has started manufacturing electricity transformers which would be sold to the national power utility, ZESA.

Credit – Elijah Chihota