Story by Oleen Ndori
Zimbabwe’s tertiary institutions are accelerating the country’s industrialisation drive under the Education 5.0 model, shifting from traditional teaching centres to innovation hubs aligned with Vision 2030.
From producing vehicle number plates and spectacles to developing mobile devices and agricultural products, universities are now churning out graduates equipped with both academic knowledge and technical expertise to support economic transformation.
At Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE), innovation is already feeding into national systems.
“The President has been very explicit in the issue that science and innovation are going to play a major role in driving industrialisation… As we talk right now, the university has developed a monitoring and evaluation application that’s being utilised by the government right now. That started with the social services cluster to monitor its projects in line with Vision 2030… So we talk about innovation,” said Vice Chancellor Professor Eddie Mwenje.
BUSE has also established a School of Optometry and Auditory Sciences, described as a first-of-its-kind initiative for a university in Africa, extending services beyond training to community support in Bindura.
“If you go back to the President’s mantra, leave no one behind… Now that we are training optometrists here, we want to be able to cover the whole country. This centre is training people from Zambia. We have students from Eswatini. We have students from Botswana… the youth who are being trained can go and set up centres in so many places,” said Dr Claudio Mutuwa, Chair of the Department of Optometry.
Meanwhile, Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) is preparing to commission a specialised hospital at its Mashava campus, marking another milestone in the Education 5.0 framework.
Professor Jacob Mafunda, Dean of Students at the Simon Muzenda Medical School, said the Mashava Specialist Hospital will deliver advanced diagnostic and surgical services currently unavailable in Masvingo Province.
“At the moment, people from Masvingo must travel to Bulawayo or Harare to receive imaging diagnostic services… Mashava Specialist Hospital is going to provide those specialist services, which is called keyhole minimal access surgery or laparoscopic surgery… If somebody has undergone laparoscopic surgery… one can stay in the hospital for maybe a day… Yet, after those long, old procedures, you’ll stay in hospital for a week… So, this is a neat, state-of-the-art procedure, which we are proud of,” he said.
The National Development Strategy Two (NDS2) prioritises science, technology and innovation, positioning tertiary institutions as key drivers of research-led industrial growth and human capital development.
