Universities push innovation through Education 5.0

THE country’s higher and tertiary education has acquitted itself exceptionally well nationally and beyond in response to the Education 5.0 Policy, while proving that education is key to Africa’s development, the Zimbabwe Universities Vice Chancellors’ Association (ZUVCA) has said.

Speaking on behalf of ZUVCA last week on Saturday while congratulating Africa University’s newly inaugurated fifth Vice-Chancellor, Reverend Professor Mageto, Harare Institute of Technology Vice-Chancellor, Dr Engineer Quinton Kanhukamwe said AU, like any other university in the country, has been delivering on Education 5.0.

“The Second Republic is moving towards creating an entrepreneurial state where universities are being called upon to increase the rate at which we innovate and commercialise our activities as a strategy for, not only creating wealth for our institutions, but also for empowering our students to enable them to participate in the industrialisation and modernisation of our continent.

“Africa University, as evidenced by its tuberculosis scourge research, among other outputs that have not gone unnoticed in Zimbabwe, is playing its part.

“As ZUVCA, we will continue to work with AU through collaborative research so that we deliver solutions to our continent,” said Engineer Kanhukamwe.

“We do not have any doubt as vice-chancellors that through Prof Mageto, Africa University will deliver on the development of Zimbabwe and Africa’s front,” he said.

In a speech read on his behalf by Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Professor Fanuel Tagwira; the Minister, Professor Amon Murwira commended the institution’s drive in embracing students from across the African

continent.

“Government urges you to continue producing apostles of heritage based Education 5.0 which focuses on teaching, research offering, service innovation and industrialisation of the continent. Only then can Africa be fully developed,” he said.

Guest speaker, the president and chief executive officer of the United Methodist Church’s Le Bonheur Health Care in the United States of America, Dr Michael Ugwueke encouraged AU students to follow Prof Mageto’s footsteps in developing Africa.

“Education is a central ingredient for the development of the society and we, as Africans, must acknowledge that we are not where we need to be. However, with education and perseverance, we will get there.

“This institution is not only about education, but about the larger idea of what it represents in the continent. It represents the spirit of togetherness and oneness as Africans and we should build on that for a better tomorrow for our children,” said Dr Ugwueke.

Speaking after his inauguration, Prof Mageto encouraged African Governments to keep investing in education.

“As we begin to channel through the next decade, we need universities where academics are driven by innovation and creativity. As we move into the developed and bio-economic era, it is critical that we embrace education pathways in a sense of thinking of the STEM knowledge. The heart of STEM is the heart of improving the quality of life as well as development of a country and this is what all African countries should do,” he said.

He said Africa should continue to celebrate its identity and cultural identity even as it keeps developing.

Prof Mageto is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at AU and served as the interim Vice-Chancellor following the death of Professor Munashe Furusa in January 2021.

Prior to joining AU, Reverend Prof Mageto served as Vice-Chancellor and

Professor of Ethics at the University of Kigali in Rwanda and at Kenya Methodist University.

While celebrating Prof Mageto’s inauguration as the fifth Vice-Chancellor, the institution also celebrated its 30th anniversary. The university was established in 1992 and former President Robert Mugabe officially opened it in April 1994.

Cde Mugabe went on to become the first person to be awarded an honourary doctorate by the university.

Currently, 35 nationalities are represented among AU’s alumni and it hosts 65 active academic programmes.

Of its alumni, 50.6 percent are female while 49.4 percent are male.