Harare Polytechnic: Resetting Strategy for a Shifting Skills Frontier

With more than a century of experience in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Harare Polytechnic stands as one of Zimbabwe’s most enduring polytechnics. It is one of the national educational institutions tasked with producing graduates who meet both national development priorities and global standards. As government expectations increase around industrialisation, innovation, inclusive education and export-ready skills, polytechnics are being challenged to reposition themselves beyond their traditional mandate and into the international TVET architecture.

As the year begins, polytechnics are navigating a season of strategic reckoning. At the close of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and on the cusp of the more exacting NDS2, expectations are rising, from industry, from communities, and increasingly from global partners. For Harare Polytechnic, this moment is defined by the push to expand international visibility through collaboration, align local training with national priorities, global best practice, and ensure that TVET remains a credible engine for industrial growth in a world where innovation and industrialisation are determinants for success.

For institutions such as Harare Polytechnic, the moment is momentous. TVET is no longer a peripheral pathway; it is central to Zimbabwe’s ambitions of innovation, industrialisation and inclusive growth. As the country trudges towards Vision 2030, demand for practical skills is rising, and so too are government expectations.

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The mandate is clear. Polytechnics are expected not merely to train, but to produce graduates with critical skills capable of driving productivity, innovation and enterprise. That challenge was underscored by the Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Honourable Simelisizwe Sibanda, in remarks delivered on his behalf by the Director of Tertiary Education Programmes, Darlington Damba.

“Your focus must evolve from the foundational growth to sustainable, transformative and resilient development,” he said. “This strategic plan must be bold, forward-looking and responsive” to national needs. The implication is a decisive shift in how success is measured. TVET institutions such as Harare Polytechnic are being urged to look beyond enrolment and pass rates, and towards tangible outputs, goods, services and innovations that speak directly to national priorities.

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