The Sunday Mail
Harmony Agere
The Government’s skills export programme is going on well and recent graduates should forward their applications to the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, an official has said.
Those who are still studying can register with authorities at their respective institutions.
The country’s tertiary institutions continue churning out graduates that are joining the already depressed labour market
The ministry’s Deputy Minister, Dr Godfrey Gandawa said while latest statistics on progess made so far are expected next week, indications are that the programme has been going on fairly well since it kicked off.
“We do not have latest figures yet but I can tell you that the programme is going well and we are encouraging more graduates to come forward,” Dr Gandawa said.
“We are working with the institutions to create the data base because it is much easier that way. So for those who are yet to graduate and those who are graduating this year, they should work with their colleges so that they are not left out.
“For those who have already graduated they should register with us (ministry) because we do not want our graduates to be unemployed when there are solutions to the problem.”
Zimbabwe is in the season of academic graduations yet again as private and public higher learning institutions continue to churn out an estimated 70 000 graduates every year despite the fact that the job market has been shrinking.
The graduation ceremonies come hard on the heels of mass retrenchments done by companies following a High Court ruling which gave employers the power to terminate employment contracts on notice.
Although the law has since been amended, around 20 000 people are believed to have lost their jobs since the ruling was made in July.
Due to harsh economic conditions in the country, many graduates are now resorting to menial jobs locally and outside the county while a few have managed to start their own businesses.
Experts blame the education system for failing to produce graduates that can start their own businesses.
Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Paul Mavima recently indicated that the new education curriculum would address the problem.
He said by making Ordinary Level students go for attachment, the system would produce graduates with skills to survive unemployment.
ln a speech at the International Research Conference in Midlands last week, Dr Gandawa said the long-term solutions to fight high unemployment remain in the country.
He said researchers should be doing more to find the needs of the country’s higher learning institutions, industry and the society to help create more job opportunities.
Dr Gandawa encouraged the promotion of science subjects and programmes saying such initiatives will help promote the country’s learning institutions’ rankings. That way, it will become easier to export the country’s graduates since they will be more marketable.
“Whether we like it or not, rankings are very crucial and important to all stakeholders – be it students, research administrators, industry and academics. They serve as screening devices and indicators of research quality for employers,” he said.
“Institutions of higher learning in Africa in general, and Zimbabwe in particular, should be ranked in terms of their research output, the number of rated academics and the extent to which these institutions secure third-stream income from industry.
“This is the catch-part – you can only secure third-stream income from industry if research leads to patents and commercialisation.
The world over, universities that offer programmes in the natural sciences, technology and medicine are usually ranked highest and at some point generate patents that are commercialised and as Zimbabweans we should not be an exception,” he said.
