New STEM programmes to drive industrialisation

Barely six months after its birth, a taskforce created to revamp higher education in Zimbabwe says it has instituted new university degree programmes that will drive industrialisation and modernisation of the economy through science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM.

Chairman of the Taskforce on Transformation of Higher Education for Industrialisation and Modernisation, University of Zimbabwe Vice-Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura, said universities have reviewed their curricula and revamped their academic programmes in a new thrust to create solutions to existing economic challenges.

Nyagura listed the new programmes as aeronautical engineering, optometry, forensic science, renewable energy, exploration geophysics, applied biotechnology, plant breeding and biotechnology, livestock production and value addition, food processing systems and technology, agricultural mechanisation systems, and management, geographical information science and Earth observation, meteorology and climate science, otorhinolaryngology, orthodontics, and culture and heritage studies.

He said since May universities had undertaken physical and human resources audits, plus audits of the legal and legislative frameworks, to position themselves for effective engagement in the paradigm shift.

Resources

To make the new paradigm a success, huge amounts of financial, human capital and infrastructure resources are required, which the universities do not readily have due to recurrent underfunding from government.

Zimbabwe is going through an unprecedented financial crisis with a fiscal cash deficit estimated at 10% of gross domestic product, and employment costs that gobble 90% of revenue.

But while the universities believe they can work synergistically amongst themselves and with other external universities to develop the requisite human resources, they are still looking to government to provide the bulk, if not all, of the funding for the new activities.

Nyagura said relevant legal and policy instruments will be necessary to legitimise the new self-driven initiatives by higher education institutions.

One legal requirement is the enactment of a 'Single Universities Act' to transform institutions of higher learning from teaching institutions into research-intensive institutions.

The taskforce has resolved that for universities to effectively contribute to the nation’s industrialisation and modernisation agenda, they must adopt the applied research model: Research-Innovation-Technological Solution-Enterprise.

Funding models

Funding models lined up include the establishment of a 'Diaspora Infrastructure or Revenue Bond', whose aim is to tap funds among the country’s diaspora.

“These [diaspora] funds can be availed to universities to build infrastructure, while student fees can be used to repay the bond.

“Universities can also forge public-private partnerships with development and multilateral organisations to fund water projects, sanitation and hygiene. Tax incentives for companies that are supporting university research and business development must also be considered,” Nyagura said.

Universities should be given priority in foreign currency allocations to allow them to acquire critical equipment and machinery timeously, he said. This is in addition to the universities being exempted from paying duty on key or strategic university purchases.

The universities also expect government to provide funding for the upgrading of local and provincial hospitals in line with new requirements that each university should have a medical school and a hospital.

Study tour

The taskforce was formed in May, shortly after a study tour by 10 vice-chancellors to leading universities in South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Cuba and Brazil.

It comprises six members: Nyagura, Great Zimbabwe University Vice-Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo, Africa University Vice-Chancellor Professor Munashe Furusa, Professor Eddie Mwenje of Bindura University of Science Education, Lupane State University Vice-Chancellor Professor Pardon Kuipa and Harare Institute of Technology Vice-Chancellor Quinton Kanhukamwe.

Based on the study tour, the vice-chancellors observed that training anchored on STEM disciplines was the major catalyst for transformation of developed economies.

The taskforce consequently resolved that the university sector in Zimbabwe could not effectively address the nation’s needs and interests without STEM.