HIT gets microbiology lab from Türkiye
IMPLEMENTATION of Heritage-Based Education 5.0 is bearing fruit as most of the country’s institutions of higher learning are now involved in groundbreaking research that responds to the nation’s needs, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Amon Murwira said yesterday.
The Minister, who was represented by Permanent Secretary Professor Fanuel Tagwira, was commissioning the Microbiology Laboratory at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT). It was built in partnership with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
Minister Murwira said the commissioning of the laboratory would help in the realisation of the National Development Strategy 1 objectives.
“Through studying our own traditional and non-traditional food-making microbiological processes, we will optimise these processes and have better food security and improved nutritional content of food. Spoilage of food and waste can be reduced.”
The laboratory would improve people’s health and well-being. “The study and understanding of microbiology profoundly influences the way efficacious and safe medications may be developed. HIT is already working on a SADC-sponsored project to develop herbal remedies for managing the HIV-AIDS condition. The laboratory will be used to assess the antimicrobial properties of the herbs as part of the product development process.”
“The new equipment goes a long way in addressing Heritage-Based Education 5.0. Hitherto impossible experiments will now become possible, thus expanding the scope, accuracy, and speed of our microbiology investigation,” he said.
Education 5.0 is based on teaching, research, community service, innovation, and industrialisation. It seeks to move the nation towards an innovation-led and knowledge-driven economy.
“With the other biotech tools that HIT already has, I challenge the university to further leverage this capacity and grow national capacity in the dimensions of pharmaceutical biotechnology, fermentation processes, recombinant DNA technology, drug discovery and development, as well as industrial biotechnology, to improve our competitiveness,” said the Minister.
“Let me also, on behalf of all Zimbabweans, thank the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency for identifying HIT as a trustworthy partner in the advancement of science and technology as vehicles of development. We stand in full support of the project’s development”, he said.
Speaking at the same event, Turkish Ambassador Berna Kasnakli Vesteden, said they were supporting Zimbabwe in its quest to become an upper-middle-class economy.
“In our projects, we also take into consideration the Government’s aim of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals through its policies, such as the National Development Strategy (NDS1, 2021–2025). My embassy’s doors are open to discuss ideas to further our cooperation.
“This is why we established a microbiology laboratory with the assistance of TIKA. I am looking forward to receiving the news of breakthroughs and products developed with the assistance of the laboratory we have just commissioned,” she said.
The Vice-Chancellor of Harare Institute of Technology Professor Quinton Kanhukane applauded the initiative.
“I would like to thank Turkey and our Government for their support and commendable work at our university and for identifying us as a suitable partner and host of this laboratory equipped with UV and VIS spectrophotometers, analytical balances, fume cabinets, shaking incubators, refrigerated centrifuges, vortex machines, orbital shakers, laboratory ovens as well as high-resolution optical microscopes.’’ he said.