Midlands State University(MSU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Victor Ngonidzashe Muzvidziwa on 8 of February 2022, told a team of Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) led peer reviewers who are on a week-long visit to review and accredit over 170 new programmes that, the proposed degrees are a response to the 2018 national critical skills audit report.
“We have over 170 programs that you are here to accredit. They represent our response to the needs of Education 5.0, the national critical skills audit of 2018, vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS 1),” Professor Muzvidziwa said.
He further highlighted that the new programs were also responding to the needs of the fourth industrial revolution.
Futuristic degrees will make MSU graduates relevant, competitive, employable and useful in the future, he added.
ZIMCHE is on a week-long review of MSU’s academic faculties’ standards of teaching and research to assess their academic, technical and physical infrastructure capacity to introduce the proposed programmes.
The University has been on a serious growth drive that has seen the number of PhD holders increase from just a few in 2007 to over 210 PhD graduates.
It is a statutory requirement for proposed programs to be rigorously scrutinised by ZIMCHE experts and peer reviewers to see if they meet quality academic standards.
In his remarks before starting the review process, ZIMCHE Chief Executive Officer Professor Kuzvinetsa Nzvimbo highlighted the need to ensure the highest quality standards of education at MSU since it has the largest student population in the country.
He commended MSU for its quality academic standards which are seen by the impact of its graduates internationally. He however emphasized the need for ZIMCHE to continually monitor and ensure quality academic standards at MSU since it is a key driver in the national human capital development programme.
“Your institution plays a critical role in the development of the person power that is required by this country to push our two critical agendas. One of ensuring that Zimbabwe becomes an upper-middle-class economy by the year 2030 and to prepare men and women with skills that are required into the future,” said Professor Nzvimbo.
“This institution has got such large numbers of students which means that you have a big piece of the pie in terms of training human resources that are required for this country. This is why those of us in ZIMCHE watch what you do at this institution with a hawk’s eye because your piece of the pie is very big,” he added.
ZIMCHE is a regulatory and quality assurance body established in 2006 within the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development to promote and coordinate education provided by institutions of higher education and to act as a regulator in the determination and maintenance of quality standards.
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