Barely a year after being awarded the International Gold Star for Quality, ‘in recognition of its outstanding commitment to quality and excellence’, in Geneva, Midlands State University under the astute and visionary leadership of Professor Ngwabi M Bhebe has received further recognition for its commitment to excellence, landing yet another prestigious International Star for Leadership in Quality. The much coveted international award is in recognition of the University’s ‘outstanding business achievements, perseverance and leadership in excellence, and quality’.
With a seasoned academic and veteran educationalist at its helm, Midlands State University has over the years successfully ventured into uncharted waters in the higher education sector to emerge as one of Zimbabwe’s premier institutions of higher learning. The International Star for Leadership in Quality awarded to the University by the Business Initiative Directions (BID) in accordance with the international QC 100 Total Quality Management Model (TQM) aptly captures MSU’s firm commitment to excellence.
The TQM model serves as a guideline for business leaders in the improvement of processes and systems with a specific thrust towards transforming organisations or institutions into customer-focused entities. Customer satisfaction is therefore the ultimate goal, with organisations striving to continuously improve everything they do in the preparation, production and delivery of both products and services.
Recipients of the International Star for Leadership in Quality must undergo a rigorous selection process as well as satisfy a well calibrated QC 100 selection criteria. Candidates for the awards are selected through the International Committee for Selection of Candidates, comprising company leaders from more than 90 countries who meet annually in London, Paris, Frankfurt, New York and Geneva. Once selection is complete, winners are determined through a voting process that takes place at three levels, that is voting by the BID Council, voting by previous awardees, and participating companies as well as through a BID online survey.
Having fully satisfied the selection criteria, Midlands State University was awarded the International Star for Leadership in Quality at the 20th International Star for Leadership in Quality Convention, in Paris, France. The award was presented to the Midlands State University, Vice-Chancellor, Professor N.M. Bhebe by the BID president, Jose E Prieto at a glittering awards ceremony held on Sunday the 1st of May 2016.
The International Star for Leadership in Quality, is not only a welcome addition to the long list of accolades won by the University over the years, but also reaffirms the institution commitment to its vision to be a pace-setting and stakeholder driven institution.
The convention, which ran from the 30th of April to the 1st of May 2016 brought together global business leaders, professionals from various fields, quality experts, academics and representatives from the diplomatic corps.
‘BID is a global community composed of businesses and organizations that are passionate about quality improvement and active learning. This community has developed a program led by seasoned business professionals, in collaboration with universities, whose goal is to create opportunities to transform the way the professional world works.’