IN order for Zimbabwe to improve the quality and quantity of skills in the engineering and technology cluster, the following strategies are recommended:
Training for engineering and technology skills
Zimbabwe has to have a more focused approach to education and training in order to establish a balance between supply and demand both in terms of quality and quantity in engineering and technology education and meet the OECD level for engineers per 1000 people. It is imperative that the number of engineers for Zimbabwe be increased to the ideal level through robust skills development programmes.
HTEIs-industry linkages
There has been limited Higher and Tertiary Education Institutions (HTEIs)-industry linkages due to the subdued economic activities, engineering students at all levels have had limited opportunities to practice their particular trades/professions to the disadvantage of the quality of the graduates. There is need to nurture HTEIs – industry relations in order to produce graduates who are commensurate with the demands of industry. Industry and Academic Institutions engineering programmes partnerships are encouraged through deliberate policies and necessary sustained incentives.
Curricula reforms
Education and training curricula should encompass emerging and future trends in areas such as nanotechnology, biomimicry, robotics and ICTs.
Establishment of technology
(Techno) parks
There is need to establish techno-parks with state-of-the-art equipment to enhance hands-on practice as well as business and entrepreneurial skills during training in academic institutions.
The engineering profession plays a major role not only in the growth and development of a country’s economy but also in improving the quality of life for its citizens through infrastructure development.
The linkage between a country’s indigenous engineering capacity and its economic development is well established.
More engineering professionals will be required to address the sustainable developmental issues of the day such as the development of renewable energy sources, advancements in technology, solutions for sustaining the environment and improving healthcare.
Natural and applied sciences are the foundation of human advancement in science and technology. For Zimbabwe to advance into a technological giant by 2030, a strong foundation in gaining the necessary pool of skills in the natural and applied sciences must be laid.
Natural sciences play a vital role in the understanding of biodiversity, evolution, population genetics and the environmental impacts of climate change, pesticide use and so on.
Applied sciences take theory, study as well as data and transform these into real-world usable items such as software, computer hardware, industrial and medical technology including other physical products.
The pervasive nature of modern technology, which cuts across all sectors, makes the basic foundation of natural, basic and applied sciences an indispensable part of the whole skills development matrix.
In order for Zimbabwe to harness the power of natural and applied sciences for economic development, it requires skills in the following key areas:
Biological sciences — for the study of life and living organisms, their life cycles, adaptations and environment.
– Physical sciences — for the study of the natural phenomena of the earth, atmosphere and space through a variety of fields that include astronomy, chemistry, geology, physics,
atmospheric science and oceanography.
– Biochemistry — the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms in order to understand how biological molecules give rise to the processes that occur within living cells, which in turn relates greatly to the study and understanding of tissues, organs and whole organisms. It covers a range of scientific disciplines, including genetics,
microbiology, forensics, plant science and medicine.
– Physics — The study of matter and its motion and behaviour through space as well as time and that studies the related entities of energy and force. Its scope of study encompasses not only the behaviour of objects under the action of given forces but also the nature and origin of
gravitational, electromagnetic and nuclear force fields.
– Mathematics — the science of structure, order and relation that has evolved from elemental practices of counting, measuring and describing the shapes of objects. It deals with logical reasoning and quantitative calculation, and its development has involved an increasing
degree of idealisation and abstraction of its subject matter.
– Natural sciences – For the description, prediction and understanding of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation.
It is divided into two main branches: Life science (or biological science) and physical science. Physical science is subdivided into branches, including physics, space science, chemistry and earth science. The Skills Audit revealed that Zimbabwe currently has an output deficit of natural and applied science skills relative to OECD countries.
Zimbabwe has a 99,93 percent skills shortage in physical sciences, 99,06 percent in Biological and related sciences, 98,21 percent in biochemistry and 89.05 percent in earth sciences.
These figures indicate a critical need for the country to channel resources towards skills development in order to narrow the gap. However, the smallest gap was revealed for computer sciences and statistics.
Of the 20 universities in Zimbabwe, a few contribute to training in natural and applied science skills.
There is an existing and growing shortage of talent and skills in the field of natural and applied sciences with enrolment into universities for programmes in the field declining.
The quality of research in the natural and applied sciences, as measured by relative citation impact, is below the global average.
Table 4 shows availability, surplus and skills deficit in the natural and applied sciences cluster in Zimbabwe against the OECD level.
Zimbabwe needs to increase enrolment in natural and applied sciences with a specific bias towards physical sciences, biological and related sciences, biochemistry and earth sciences.
The country should channel resources towards skills development in order to narrow existing gaps in the stated areas (Table 4).
Low enrolment levels at tertiary institutions are a result of low numbers of students in secondary level taking science and mathematics.
This is a result of having few schools with a capacity to teach sciences. Schools lack capacity, partly because there is a critical shortage of mathematics and science teachers.
There is need to attract skilled experts across all levels to offer training of high end skills at HTEIs in natural and applied sciences.
This should be coupled with retention mechanisms for experts in specialised areas within the skills development matrix.
The country needs a holistic approach to improving infrastructure and equipment in the teaching and learning of mathematics and science subjects at all levels.
In order to address the skills development goal, Zimbabwe needs to embrace a number of levers for creating stronger natural and applied science education systems.
The Government should invest in increasing numbers in this cluster aimed at developing the skills needed today and those needed to successfully leverage the technological advances of tomorrow.
The business and commerce sector are the engine for sustainable economic growth and development as well as poverty eradication in Zimbabwe.
This sector has potential for growth as the Government is putting in place sound and investor friendly economic policies to lure investors.
The mantra, ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ has attracted interests from international investors and some multinational finance institutions have already shown commitment by extending credits lines to fund critical projects.
This has opened avenues for the need to develop critical skills in this sector.
To attain global competitiveness, Zimbabwe’s business and commerce sector must strategically pursue critical skills that are in tandem with the nation’s Vision 2030.
In order to build a thriving business sector, Zimbabwe requires adequate and high-quality skills in the following areas:
– Marketing and advertising — For the preparation of products for the marketplace, through understanding potential customers and what they want to get from products or services marketing focuses on convincing potential buyers of a product with advertising focusing on the communication to create awareness of the existence of a product.
– Business and administration -— For the performance or management of business operations and decision making as well as the efficient organisation of people and other resources, to direct activities toward common goals and objectives.
– Accounting and Taxation -— For the systematic and comprehensive recording of financial transactions pertaining to a business. It also covers the process of summarising, analysing and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies and tax collection entities.
– Management and administration — For the administration of organisations, whether it is a business, a non-profit organisation, or government body, through the setting of strategy and co-ordinating the efforts of employees (or of volunteers) to accomplish its objectives utilising available resources, such as financial, natural, technological and human resources.
– Transport services -— For the movement of humans, animals and goods from one location to another through diverse modes of transport; air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline and space.
– Finance, banking and insurance — For the economic services provided by the finance industry, that include businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, consumer-finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, individual managers and some government-sponsored enterprises.