'NUST should do more to revive Bulawayo industries'

NATIONAL University of Science and Technology (Nust) Vice Chancellor Professor Mqhele Dlodlo says his institution should do more to contribute to the revival of Bulawayo industries.

The newly appointed VC strongly believes the country's universities should be at the forefront of providing answers to "real life problems" and contributing meaningfully to economic development.

In a recent interview here, Professor Dlodlo said Zimbabweans need intellectual liberation as he challenged tertiary educators to be involved in the country's development by carrying out research on practical life situations.

He also called upon all stakeholders including industry, public and private sector and civic society to come together and identify common problems and solutions affecting the economy.

Prof Dlodlo said universities should be part of the community and foster industrial growth. He said students need to be capacitated to do thorough researches that develop entrepreneurs into big business and ultimately help in industrial development.

"Universities need to challenge themselves to be business and industrial hubs and develop special export processing zones. Research should focus on real problems especially in rural areas where the majority live," he said.

"Each of the universities should be competing to solve real life problems through industrial research and when students do projects in labs, they should be able to do business plans and help develop small scale businesses into industry that can help grow the economy."

Prof Dlodlo took over as Nust Vice Chancellor recently after being appointed from the diaspora where he had spent most of his academic life. He said one of Zimbabwe's challenges, just like other African nations, was that colonisation brought with it dependence on money as something to spend and not as a seed for self-actualisation.

To Prof Dlodlo, Zimbabweans need intellectual liberation to understand that money should only bring fluidity to one's plans.

"We have been fooled for decades and we are still allowing ourselves to be fooled that somebody from elsewhere, who enriched themselves with our resources, will come and rescue us. We need not to be fooled because our continent has more resources than anywhere else," he said.

"There should be liberation of mind where we should ask ourselves what we want to be in future. We should start with what you have than to wait for external resources. In fact the catch phrase should be vukuzenzele because there is a lot at stake."

Prof Dlodlo said Nust has taken a leading stance in that regard with the idea of developing factory shells, industrial and business parks, with the ultimate goal being resuscitation of industry in Bulawayo.

"Nust should do more of what it is doing now and should not stop when my term ends. Nust is growing big and my job is to help industry grow by making sure colleagues and different organisations are part of the institution and shape how our society thinks," he added.

Earlier, while officiating during a Homelink and Nust financial inclusion workshop here, Prof Dlodlo challenged traditional leaders to mobilise their subjects to exploit resources in their localities for their communities' development. Nust director of communication Mr Felix Moyo also said it is the role of the academia to solve real problems, adding that Nust had come up with developmental studies in agriculture, mining, health and science among others.

"We are here to tell chiefs and the rural population that wealth is abundant in their areas and teaching them how to harness these resources and turn them into economic benefits for their communities. This of course begins with liberating the mind and unlocking the limitless," said Mr Moyo.