The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Development, Professor Amon Murwira has called on universities to focus on heritage based science and technology innovations in order to turnaround the country’s economic fortunes.
Speaking during Yafm 91.8’s inaugural Great Dyke Career Day at Gresham Park, in Zvishavane, on the 23rd of March 2018, where Midlands State University and 9 other universities as well as technical colleges were exhibiting, Professor Murwira said, universities should not be fixated with producing graduands with attractive transcripts but should instead focus their efforts on producing competent graduands who have knowledge that can be transformed into goods and services.
‘We need a reorientation philosophy of the knowledge and people we have. That is, we have to adopt the blue ocean strategy, our innovation has to be hinged on our heritage which is the locally based resources as our comparative advantage. This is the drive we want in our education system, education that is rooted in our heritage, education that is rooted in the resources we have. So universities should focus on education that matters to us’, he said.
The Minister also called on universities, to desist from the red ocean strategic approach to education because the competition model does not work as they will always be a better player in field but with resource based innovation there is always a comparative advantage.
Professor Murwira reiterated the need for Zimbabwe to pull itself from the poverty mentality because the nation’s environment is rich.
He went on to say, ‘industries do not just mushroom, but they originate in the brain. We want knowledge that is transformative. Knowledge that cannot be transformed into goods and services is not knowledge at all’.
The career day ran under the theme; ‘Unleashing the potential of the great dyke through education, which is in line with Zimbabwe’s modernisation and industrialisation agenda.
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