The call comes
amid a rising number of cases of local students, who study abroad only to
return with qualifications from foreign institutions that are not recognised in
Zimbabwe, leaving their degrees worthless and their career prospects in limbo.
The council has
reaffirmed that Zimbabwe’s own 21 universities offer degrees that are
comparably favourable with any other institutions globally, as they provide a
robust, quality-assured education that aligns with the nation’s developmental
goals and is globally benchmarked.
In an extensive
interview with Zimpapers, ZIMCHE chief executive officer, Professor Kuzvinetsa
Peter Dzvimbo, detailed the council’s role and the growing concern over local
students falling victim to unaccredited foreign institutions.
“Our main
function is to work with universities and our Ministry of Higher Education to
look at the quality of the degree programmes that are offered in our
universities.
“We are the
organisation that works very closely with our universities to ensure that the
teaching and learning and research and innovation that takes place in our
institutions of higher education is of the highest quality,” said Prof Dzvimbo.
Without
mentioning specific institutions or programmes, he revealed the distressing
trend of students and parents, who discover late that their costly
international qualifications are invalid when they return to Zimbabwe.
“Now, one of
the important things is that before parents send their children abroad, they
should come and check with us because we want to tell them and make sure that
the university that they are going to is actually recognised in its own
country,” said Prof Dzvimbo.
“If it’s not
recognised, your son or your daughter will not be able to work in this
country.”
He highlighted
the emotional and financial devastation that this causes.
“It’s a
traumatic exercise for both the child and the parent as they spend a lot of
money. We have had people who come back to us and say, ‘I didn’t know this
particular institution was not recognised’.
“The
institution we went to is not even recognised in its own country. So, you
cannot have credit for that particular degree programme,” he said.
To combat this,
ZIMCHE is embarking on a public awareness campaign.
“We will
continue to work on radio, to work on TV, to download the prints and media and
to inform the general public that they must check with us,” he said.
Prof Dzvimbo
extended a direct plea to the public to exercise caution before investing in
foreign learning.
“Whether that
institution is in Europe or whether that institution is here on the African
continent or in Asia or Latin America, please check with us,” he pleaded.
“You can send
us an email and we will be more than happy to explain to you, and we do not
charge for that service.
It’s free.”
Prof Dzvimbo
reiterated that Zimbabwe’s higher education system was of good quality as it
has championed the quality and breadth of programmes offered in the country’s
21 public and private universities.
“I want to say
to our local people, especially our parents and their children, that Zimbabwe
has 21 universities. You can compare further, intellectually, professionally,
in terms of the depth and breadth of the degree programmes, with any other
university in the region, on the continent, and even globally,” he said.
He explained
the rigorous quality assurance process that all local degrees must undergo, a
system designed to protect the value of every qualification awarded.
“When a
university wants to introduce a new degree, say, in pharmacy or in medicine, we
put a team together of senior academics. We want you to look at this programme
in terms of its depth and in terms of its breadth,” said Prof Dzvimbo.
This process
includes physical inspections of facilities.
“We go to the
university and look at and examine the equipment, examine the labs, examine the
library, we even look at the accommodation of students,” he said.
Prof Dzvimbo
said a key innovation ensuring national standards is the ‘Minimum Bodies of
Knowledge and Skills’ system.
He further
explained that for any given degree, 80 percent of the core curriculum is
standardised across all universities, guaranteeing a uniform benchmark of
quality.
Institutions
then have a 20 percent leeway to add distinctive and innovative
specialisations.
“Most of our
institutions in this country are what we call comprehensive institutions
because they offer the sciences, they offer the arts, they offer performance,
and they offer agriculture. So, any degree that you want in this country is
available in all our 21 institutions,” he said.
“Parents and
students are strongly advised to make ZIMCHE their first port of call before
making any significant investment in foreign education.”
This simple,
free check could prevent financial loss and personal heartache, while also
encouraging the growth and recognition of Zimbabwe’s own world-class higher
education sector. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment