The Sunday News
Nozipho Rutsate and Sindisiwe Sibanda, Sunday News Reporters
THE Government has secured funding from BancABC to build a state-of-the-art Medical School for the National University of Science and Technology at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo, an official has said.
In an interview, the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira said this was part of initiatives to transform Nust into a world class university.
He, however, could not divulge the amount of money they have secured, but added that the Government was bringing in the private sector to help improve higher education in the country.
“I am positive that before the end of my tenure in this ministry I would have turned Nust into a super technology and science institution and we will soon start developing more of its infrastructure on site to suit the standards of the STEM initiative,” said Prof Murwira.
Apart from developing the physical infrastructure Prof Murwira said the ministry was implementing other programmes and projects within the education system to improve science education in the country.
“We are working on educational programmes to be comparable from one institution to the other in relation to the National Qualification Framework so that the difference is in the label and not the level of education. Both students with A-level certificates or national certificates will be allowed equal entry at university level.
“Promotions of professors throughout all State universities are to be equal. We are also looking at injecting healthy financial infrastructures at universities also in the context of Education doctrine 5.0 in order to increase production. Institutions are moving from only teaching, research and community engagement to innovation and industrialisation in which the Nust Innovation Hub is almost complete.
Institutions should also ensure that all innovation is in sync with our heritage so as to best suite our context,” he said.
Prof Murwira also said the country needs at least 5 000 science teachers in the next five years.
“Masvingo Teachers’ College introduced a Secondary Science Teacher’s degree programme and started recruiting in May 2018 along with Mkoba Teachers College in Gweru and Joshua M Nkomo Technical College in Bulawayo, there are 660 recruitments for science teachers only for both last year and this year.
“We will need more science teachers for the STEM programme to be sustainable,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lupane State University has introduced new programmes aimed at promoting teaching of indigenous languages and the digital world in the country. In an interview, the university’s director of marketing and public relations Mr Zwelithini Dlamini said the initiative was meant to promote indigenous languages.
“We are currently offering different programmes which include Film, Television and Media Studies, Theatre and Performance. We have also introduced degrees in Kalanga, Sotho, Tonga and Nambya,” said Mr Dlamini.
He said the programmes would start in July.
“The programmes were approved by Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education (Zimche), enrolment is still underway and we expect the programmes to begin in July,” he said.
He said in the long run, the university would offer degrees in all the 16 official languages in the country.
“The Constitution recognises about 16 national languages and it is one of the university’s efforts to try and bring those recognised languages into life by offering them. Lupane is placed in an environment that is rich in terms of linguistic diversity and will do well in promoting those different indigenous languages,” he said.
