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NewsDay

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Defence university: Are authorities jumping the gun?

Columnists
“If you want to be happy all the time, you have to keep changing yourself,” is a 2 500-year-old Chinese philosophical statement. These wise words apply to all institutions and all of us today. But care, of course, must be taken as to the direction of change.

“If you want to be happy all the time, you have to keep changing yourself,” is a 2 500-year-old Chinese philosophical statement. These wise words apply to all institutions and all of us today. But care, of course, must be taken as to the direction of change.

The truth, however, unpalatable, must be faced head-on if the necessary change is to be mitigating as opposed to worsening the situation. Only then can progress and happiness be assured.

The Ministry of Defence is steering a Bill in Parliament meant to give life to a university that would focus on the tertiary academic requirements of the profession of arms. Presumably, the armament industry’s requirements will be catered for as well.

members-of-parliament

This, of course, is an expensive undertaking if the project is to produce high quality graduates.

The second issue that needs study before the Bill is passed into law, apart from the financing aspect, is whether the graduates will find a ready job market to justify the investment.

The answers to these questions, which are rather obvious, suggest that if the national defence forces want to be happy, this is not the direction change must take. The direction, however noble, adds costs, when a downward review of the same is what the moment calls for.

The total armed forces budget in Zimbabwe is low, smaller even than that of some universities. The situation is so dire that the national budget, let alone the defence forces budget, falls far short, for example, to fund a brigade of the US marines in a combat zone such as Afghanistan, for a year. The combined budget for Zimbabwe’s armed forces would, in that scenario, probably run out in less than two months.

This begs the question: Are the authorities jumping the gun? Will the university be focused on science, technology, engineering, mathematics and logistics, as it should, if it is to benefit a modern defence forces.

That is apart, of course, from having a flying school to support courses in aeronautics and flying and a naval school to give life to such disciplines as naval architecture and sailing. It is a hugely expensive exercise, and one gets the feeling the project has not been taken through the feasibility and viability stages.

Perhaps, focus is on humanities, peacekeeping duties and or just an ideological school? If that is the case, would the size of the student population justify a university? It seems making use of other much bigger and richer countries’ defence universities and colleges would be a more viable, cost effective solution, guaranteeing quality, world class graduates. Local universities, bar their own financial constraints, may also be better platforms for what the national defence forces want to achieve.

That said, however, there is room for innovation to generate funds for the armed forces in the process increasing their combat readiness. The Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ), for instance, could go into partnership with Air Zimbabwe to start a commercial flying school. That would put to good use the high skills both institutions possess.

At the recent Singapore Air Show, it was revealed that the world will in future face a shortage of highly qualified commercial pilots and those air forces that had been the source of pilots for the airlines before were now failing to meet demand. The Chinese and Indian civilian aviation industry would be most affected, as airline travel in South Asia explodes.

An opportunity, therefore, exists for the AFZ and Air Zimbabwe pilots and engineers to venture into a commercial flying school targeting the Asian market as well as the local market to produce pilots and aircraft engineers. A private equity technical partner would see this low hanging fruit of opportunity going live soon. It will complement the Higher Education ministry’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) education approach.

A former Air Zimbabwe captain tells me that Zimbabwe’s good climate and uncluttered skies would allow year-round pilot training activities.

The engineering base for the training school could outsource its services to regional airlines. It would also be the centre for aircraft related engineering apprentice training. The graduates will be for domestic deployment and the export market. The ventures will be self sustaining, besides generating hundreds of high quality service sector jobs Zimbabwe should be focusing on, as the second edition of ZimAsset should highlight.

With time, growth and experience, the flying and engineering schools could be upgraded to a college of a defence university, but first, let the war cry be “first things first”.

lTapiwa Nyandoro can be contacted on [email protected] or [email protected]