eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer/NewZiana
Zimbabwe has started processes to have its tertiary education qualifications recognised and accepted across the world, according to Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira.
Murwira revealed this on Tuesday while briefing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) assistant director general for education, Stefania Giannini.
Giannini is in the country as a sideline to her participation in the 14th Policy Dialogue Forum of the Teacher Task Force being held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Murwira said between December 2022 and April last year, his ministry was able to develop the Zimbabwe National Qualifications Framework which it has since backed up with relevant Statutory Instruments (SIs) as well as lodged it with the Southern African Development Community.
He said they are now arranging to take the national qualifications framework to the African Union (AU) as part of the process to ensure the country’s education is well internationalised and recognisable throughout the world.
“So, this is the direction that we have taken along that line, and this is why we believe that in terms of the global conventions on the recognition of qualifications, we are prepared to do the signatures and the ratification because we believe we have done the best work,” he said.
“We still have to do a lot, but we are moving in that direction and I believe as soon as possible we are going to do what is required from that point of view.”
Murwira said the focus of his ministry was to provide education that gives dignity to the people and that can only happen when the education teaches them how to survive, produce food, produce medicines, have safe water as well as produce people who can communicate and who can leave in a peaceful world.
He said it was against that background that the government converted the education system from just a teaching, research and seminar called 3.0 to education 5.0 where the emphasis is on two additional missions of industrialisation and innovation.
Focus is also now on the people and what is found in the country, the continent and the world, which is code-named the Heritage-based education 5.0.
With heritage-based education 5.0 the thrust is to drive the country’s agenda using science, technology and innovation as well as streamlining humanities, said Murwira.
“So far we have done a lot and there is still a lot to be done in terms of making sure that our program infrastructure is streamlined. We looked at our programmes, how they were being offered and we phased out certain programs that we were convinced are out of time and then we really
re-worked the focus of our programs such that they respond to the education 5.0 mantra of teaching, research, community engagement, innovation and industrialisation,” he said.
Murwira said his Ministry has since come up with five framework pillars for action, namely programme, staffing, digital and physical, legal and financial infrastructure.
He said on physical infrastructure, which involves constructing learning facilities and innovation hubs, they are using apprentices following the resuscitation of the apprenticeship program, which had been suspended for over 10 years and more than 6 000 have been engaged.
Speaking at the same occasion, Giannini said UNESCO appreciates and supports the efforts that Zimbabwe is taking, which she said are aligned to the national vision to become an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
