By Patience Rashai
In support of Government’s proactive plea of fighting the Corona virus pandemic, Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) has come up with a Covid response factory manufacturing alcohol-based sanitizer, and clothing technology factory tailoring medical grade protective face masks.
Touring the facility in Chinhoyi, this Monday, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube and Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor AmonMurwira applauded the university for such a move adding that universities were the pinnacle of innovation in any given country.
“I am fairly impressed with what we are witnessing here. There is fairly late incapacity across all universities when it comes to manufacturing masks and sanitizers. We never knew that we could unlock that capacity but here we are Covid 19 has forced us to unlock that capacity and potential, and this is fantastic,” said Prof Ncube.
He added that these Government funded projects were open for any university in response to President Emmerson Mmnangagwa’s vision of Education 5.0 which would see the country through to the attainment of an upper income middle economy.
“Resources follow strategy, if there is no strategy then there is nothing to fund. We are funding education 5,0 strategy which means universities have to create an ecosystem which starts with undergraduate education, then post graduate to professorship, who then do research and come up with ideas which are then debated in innovation hubs and then they end up here,” he added, making reference to the products under production.
The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education also pledged Government’s continued support of such initiatives. “Industry does not fall from the sky, it is created. Wherever you see an industry somebody must have thought about it, and places where industry is born, is the higher and tertiary education of a country, just like what we are witnessing here, so is Silicon Valley which is a product of Stanford University.
“We can’t have people who want jobs but cannot create them. Universities are there for creation and that is what we are seeing here,” he added.
Prof Ncube and Prof Murwira were accompanied by Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland West, Mary Mliswa, where the crew also grabbed the opportunity to visit the university’s National Cattle breeding project as well as the genetic engineering laboratory.
