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Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces President Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has commended the future to be in Science and Technology following his capping of UZ graduands in Harare yesterday where a top female undergraduate student Gamuchirai Bhiza scored a first, becoming the first female student to attain a first-class honours degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering.
Bhiza was awarded the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Chancellor’s Award for the best female undergraduate also with a cash prize of US$1 000 as well as the Women in Science & Engineering Award for the best female student.
President Dr Mnangagwa commended the realisation of qualitative growth within the higher education sector through the introduction of new degree programmes.
“It is also commendable that 39 percent of the graduates were in the critical areas of natural and applied sciences, medicine, engineering and information and communication technology related disciplines. The future is in sciences and the University of Zimbabwe, along with other institutions of higher learning continues to propel this science-oriented education. After all, this is how developed countries overcame under-development,” he said.
University of Zimbabwe’s trailblazing initiative to create three streams for start-ups was a welcome development as the approach was in sync with the Second Republic’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind.
The participation of more stakeholders in the country’s on-going innovation and industrialisation revolution has hence been undoubtedly broadened as a result.
The graduate innovator start up programme, the industry-based innovator start-up programme and the community-based innovator programme, have been included in this development.
Professor Paul Mapfumo, UZ Vice Chancellor said University of Zimbabwe seamlessly linked teaching and learning to research, innovation and industrialisation to produce Education 5.0 graduates with new competencies that foster creativity, innovation and establishment of companies.
“The institution has championed new innovative methods of delivery in teaching and learning in order to migrate from theory-based classroom-based teaching and learning to more practical student-centred teaching and learning towards production of goods and services. This is not a mean feat in terms of managing the change and shifting the mindset; this is work in progress,” said Prof Mapfumo.
According to Professor Mapfumo, the University continued to make progress towards implementing its programme approach to research and innovation, underpinning the industrialisation thrust.
“The University of Zimbabwe has to date registered 21 start-up companies from its first cohort of graduates and interns and these are at various phases of business development. A number of private and public companies are now also coming on board to begin to collaborate with the University Innovation Hub and also with the faculties to produce at large scale and commercialise goods and services that are coming from the research and innovation, but particularly from the start-up companies,” he said.
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