John Nyashanu; Zimbabwe 

Efforts are underway in Zimbabwe to bring higher education back on track after a decade on the downward trend. Government today initiated a partnership program, calling on businesses to join hands with tertiary institutions. 

All has not been well at the country's higher education institutions, resulting in constant strikes by students and lecturers, to the detriment of education in a country whose education system was once rated as the second best in Africa. 

Zimbabwe students have over time been seen as a shepherd-less flock as semester after semester they would find themselves without lecturers. In 2008, the country's highest institution of learning was closed for months owing to a myriad of problems which included unavailability of water. But now the country’s administration reckons it is time to address the crisis. 

Zimbabwe Education Minister Stan Mudenge says: “The private sector is the main consumer of the products of our universities and technical colleges. You can not just consume without producing a little to making a little contribution towards the product that is coming out of these institutions.”

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai admits that in the current economic environment, the private sector is anxious about policies that government at times announces, the recent one being the indeginisation policy. 

Some businesses believe the proposal is a win-win situation. Local businessman Phillip Chiyangwa says there will be thousands of job opportunities created for students to benefit from certain business sectors.

Mooted solutions include businesses bonding students and general goodwill from the private sector who will realise that they are the ultimate beneficiaries of quality human resources.