Zimbabwe’s universities and colleges should be judged by the patents they file, startups they launch and industries they create rather than the number of graduates they produce, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Frederick Shava has said.
Addressing the Teachers Colleges Joint Translational Research Conference at Montclair Hotel in Nyanga on Wednesday, Shava challenged academics to move research beyond journals and laboratories and focus on solving real-world problems.
“The question is not what have we discovered, but what problems have we solved, what product have we created, and what communities have we transformed,” he said.
Shava said higher education institutions must demonstrate their impact through innovations developed, communities served and industries supported, warning that research with no practical application could not drive national development.
The conference brought together researchers from teachers’ colleges across Zimbabwe and delegates from Mozambique. Among attendees was Hillside Teachers College principal Sifelani Jabangwe.
Shava said the shift aligns with government efforts to industrialise Zimbabwe’s 35,000 villages by 2030, arguing that the country cannot rely on imported technologies to achieve its development goals.
“We must cease to be mere consumers of imported technologies. Our institutions must become engines of production, generating solutions, technologies and enterprises, as well as competitive industries,” he said.
The minister highlighted achievements under the Education 5.0 framework, including the establishment of 12 innovation hubs and technology transfer centres at state universities, as well as 120 annual STEM scholarships reserved for female students.
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He called for stronger incentives for lecturers to patent and commercialise their research, including improved access to seed funding, venture capital and intellectual property support.
Shava also urged universities to take innovation directly into communities by establishing incubation units and technology transfer centres beyond their campuses.
He cited locally grown fruits and vegetables as opportunities for value addition and pointed to a wine production project in Rutenga as an example of indigenous innovation that could be replicated elsewhere.
“Our Silicon Valley is our industries, our cities, our towns, our growth points, our villages — those are our Silicon Valleys,” he said.
With the National Development Strategy 2 on the horizon, Shava said government would prioritise manufacturing technologies, agro-processing, mining value chains and digital innovation.
“Our future will not be imported,” he said. “It will be researched, designed, engineered, manufactured and commercialised by us.”
