Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) today, Friday 28 November 2025, concluded its 2026–2030 Strategic Planning Workshop at the Msasa Training Bureau in Harare. The workshop, which opened on Monday, 24 November, brought together senior leadership, school representatives, the University Council and officials from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development to set the university’s course for the next five years. Closing the workshop, Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo urged participants to prepare for the implementation phase with discipline and clarity of purpose. He stated that the strategy’s success would depend on the university’s ability to translate the parent Ministry’s expectations into measurable institutional action.
Professor Zvobgo said the Ministry expects GZU to strengthen Education 5.0 by ensuring that teaching, research and innovation are aligned to national priority sectors and that academic programmes remain responsive to the demands of a modernising economy. He explained that the university is expected to expand its role in national innovation, with the industrial park serving as a hub for productive and commercially viable activity. He noted that the Ministry also expects GZU to build a steady pipeline of research, innovation and commercialisation projects that benefit the university community while driving rural industrialisation. Digital transformation is another expectation, with the Ministry calling for the integration of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and cyber governance across all academic and administrative functions. In addition, GZU is expected to broaden its international engagement through global partnerships, collaborative research and increased international student enrolment.
Issuing a clear charge to participants, Professor Zvobgo said the Ministry’s expectations form the basis of GZU’s contribution to the final phase of NDS2. He called for a focused and coordinated approach, emphasising that the university’s performance over the next five years must support Zimbabwe’s pursuit of upper middle-income status by 2030. He added that 2026 would require tangible outputs, including heritage-based research with commercial potential, a university-wide policy that integrates entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence across all faculties, and strategic collaborations with leading international research institutions. Delivering the vote of thanks, Pro Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Administration Professor David Chikodzi said the workshop had produced a coherent direction for the institution. He noted that the discussions now require collective effort to turn into action and encouraged participants to sustain the progress made during the week as GZU positions itself to contribute effectively to national development under Vision 2030.
The outcomes from the workshop will inform the finalisation of GZU’s 2026–2030 Strategic Plan, which will guide the university’s work in innovation, heritage-based scholarship and economic transformation over the coming years.