Bridget Mabanda
Harare Polytechnic on Friday held a send-off ceremony for 30 Mechanical Engineering students who are going to China on an 18-month exchange programme.
The occasion was a sequel to a Memorandum of Agreement signed between Harare Polytechnic and Ningbo, China on 22, November, 2022 in which the two agreed to cooperate in knowledge and technology transfer, cultural exchange programmes, training of staff and students in some of the emerging forms of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education.
Permanent Secretary of Higher Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Professor Fanuel Tagwira, in a speech read on his behalf by the Director, Tertiary Education Programmes, Darlington Damba, urged students to go and be focused, work very hard and master the critical skills which will be used in the country.
“Remember, the nation has very high expectations that upon your return you will immensely contribute to the transformation and modernisation of the Zimbabwean economy,” he said.
He added that the programme resonates very well with the Ministry’s Heritage Based Philosophy Education 5.0 that aims to develop a highly skilled human capital base with the capacity to produce quality goods and services, which is no doubt will catapult the country in achieving a middle-income economy by 2030.
The ministry thanked the parents for allowing their sons and daughters to be Zimbabwe Educational ambassadors, representing Zimbabwe and Harare Polytechnic.
Harare Polytechnic Vice Principal Deborah Ruziwa, on behalf of the Principal, Engineer Tafadzwa Mudondo said the institution is grateful for the government and Ministry for creating an environment for partnerships.
“Both the ministerial and institutional visions and missions dovetail very well and have one common objective of the government and the ministry for industrialisation and mordenisation of Zimbabwe.
“This gave us impetus to look for partnerships and as such we are grateful to Association of Technical Universities and polytechnics in Africa, of which we are a member, for facilitating and pairing Harare Polytechnic and Ningbo Polytechnic through China Centre for International Exchange,” she said.
She added that the agreement between Harare Polytechnic and Ningbo Polytechnic will stretch for an initial period of five years and by the end of the agreement, 90 students would have gone through the programme in cohorts of 30 students each.
The mechatronics students have since commenced dual training as a pathway to dual certification.
The modus operandi is that these students will spend their first-year learning in Zimbabwe, which they have already done, 18 months inclusive of attachment in China and will write examinations while in China.
The final year will see them revert to Zimbabwe culminating in HEXCO examinations.
On graduation, they will have dual qualifications that are HEXCO examinations and a Chinese Diploma.
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