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UNIVERSITIES and colleges’ response to the outbreak of Covid-19 has confirmed that these institutions are now producing graduates that are not only relevant to industry but that can contribute meaningfully to national development.

The universities and colleges are manufacturing sanitisers, Covid-19 testing swabs and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as face masks. The country has, as a result of the institutions of higher and tertiary education’s contribution, drastically reduced its import bill for Covid-19 consumables.

Government in 2017 adopted Education 5.0 which focuses on innovation and industrialisation. Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said the adoption of Education 5.0 has changed the face of the higher and tertiary education.

He said universities and colleges are now churning out graduates that meet societal demands.

Since the adoption of Education 5.0 Government has been providing resources to enable universities and colleges to establish innovation hubs and also construct industrial parks hence it was easy for the institutions to respond to the challenges of the Covid-19 outbreak.

National University of Science and Technology, Great Zimbabwe University, Mutare Polytechnic, Harare Institute of Technology, Midlands State University and Bindura University of Science Education all produced sanitisers and as such the country has adequate sanitisers at its hospitals and other public places.

Great Zimbabwe University is also producing (PPE) for doctors which used to be imported.

The country is no longer importing drips as the institutions of higher and tertiary education are producing the drips thereby saving the country the much-needed foreign currency.

What is happening at universities and colleges is very encouraging and must be transferred to our industry. Industry has over the years been complaining that universities and colleges were not producing relevant graduates and we want to commend Government for responding to this complaint by adopting Education 5.0.

The graduates from our universities and colleges should now take the lead in reviving our industry. The local industry has said it is more than ready to produce substitutes for most of the imported products and what it just needs is Government support.

Government last year unveiled the local content policy meant to create jobs, boost local production and save forex. Universities and colleges have demonstrated that they are now producing graduates that have solutions to most of the challenges facing industry and there is therefore every reason to expect a faster pace of modernising and industrialising the economy.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) said recently that a number of products being imported can be produced locally. It said Zimbabwe’s industry had the required machinery and expert labour to produce substitutes for most of the imported products.

We want most of the graduates from our universities and colleges to be absorbed by local industry so that the nation benefits from its investment in education.

Many of our graduates have in the past been forced to leave the country to seek employment in other countries because our local industry could not absorb them. There is therefore urgent need to reverse this trend.

Zimbabwe should be among countries leading in pharmaceuticals, engineering, automotive and ICT sectors in the region and beyond because our universities and colleges are churning out relevant graduates.