{"id":5773,"date":"2019-10-07T09:30:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T06:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:35","slug":"quality-higher-education-means-more-than-learning-how-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/10\/07\/quality-higher-education-means-more-than-learning-how-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality Higher Education Means More Than Learning How to Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By<\/em><\/strong> Patience Mukwambo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people talk\nabout quality education, they\u2019re often referring to the kind of education that\ngives students the knowledge and skills they need for the job market. But\nthere\u2019s a view<\/a> that\nquality education has wider benefits: it develops individuals in ways that help\ndevelop society more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Zimbabwe, for\nexample, the higher education policy emphasises<\/a> student\nemployability and the alleviation of labour shortages. But, as my research<\/a> found,\nthis isn\u2019t happening in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University education\nneeds to do more than produce a graduate who can get a job. It should also give\ngraduates a sense of right and wrong. And it should instil graduates with an\nappreciation for other people\u2019s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tertiary education should also give students opportunities, choices and a voice when it comes to workplace safety, job satisfaction, security, growth and dignity. Higher education is a space where they can learn to be critical. It must prepare them for participating in the economy and broader society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t happening in Zimbabwe. Graduate unemployment is high and employers and policymakers are\u00a0blaming<\/a>\u00a0this largely on the mismatch between graduate skills and market requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigating Zimbabwe\u2019s universities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My research<\/a> sought\nto examine how a human development lens could add to what was valued as higher\neducation, and the kind of graduate outcomes produced in Zimbabwe. I\ninvestigated 10 of the universities in Zimbabwe (there were 15 at the time of\nthe research). Four were private and six public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reviewed policy documents, interviewed representatives of institutions and held discussions with students. Members of Zimbabwe\u2019s higher education quality assurance body and university teaching staff were also included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found that in\npractice, higher education in Zimbabwe was influenced by the country\u2019s\nsocio-political and economic climate. Decisions and appointments of key\nuniversity administrators in public universities and the minister of higher\neducation were largely political.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition,\nresources were limited and staff turnover was high. Universities just couldn\u2019t\nfinance themselves through tuition\nfees<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different players in\nthe higher education system \u2013 employers, the government, academics, students\nand their families \u2013 have different ideas about what \u201cquality\u201d means in higher\neducation. The Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education understands quality as\nmeeting set standards and benchmarks that emphasise the graduates\u2019 knowledge\nand skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read\nmore\u2026<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patience Mukwambo When people talk about quality education, they\u2019re often referring to the kind of education that gives students the knowledge and skills they need for the job market.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}