Graduates urged to be innovative
MINISTER of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Professor Amon Murwira on Saturday urged graduates to assess and utilise opportunities around them to provide solutions to problems bedevilling the continent and the world.
Prof Murwira challenged the graduates to adopt the Innovate, Protect and Prosper (IPP) model to move the African continent forward while presiding over a graduation ceremony at Africa University.
“Knowledge is the only weapon to develop the world and Africa is on the move towards such through Africa University. The purpose of gaining knowledge is to use the skills attained to be assets in the communities you hail from and to be proud to be associated with Africa as well as being proud to be associated with Africa University,” he said.
“Education should bring hope to the continent through the ability of graduates to convert knowledge into goods and services. Graduates should use their heritage to innovate. They must use and learn using local resources rather than having to import resources for the creation of goods and services.
“In so doing graduates should not forget to cooperate with the global community. Cooperation does not mean working together with someone better than you, but cooperation is the ability to do things differently and move forward,” he said.
Prof Murwira commended Africa University for not only engaging in teaching and research, but also cultivating industrialisation and innovation in its graduates.
“Most institutions of higher learning are either at stage 3.0 where only teaching, research and social responsibility are at play, but would like to commend Africa University for taking a notch higher at level 4.0 where there is teaching, research, social responsibility, industrialisation and innovation are taking place. This has been achieved through the innovation hub at the institution. A hub which is currently being adopted by state universities in Zimbabwe as witnessed by the opening of one at Midlands State University recently,” he said.