Mushrooming universities threaten quality of education

Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:10:50 +0000

By SANDRA MACHIMA & AARON CHIYANZO

THE quality of education in Zambia is being threatened by mushrooming Universities with dubious
credentials.

Zambia Catholic University (ZCU Vice Chancellor Fr. Patrick Chilambwe said plurality of universities has continued to challenge quality of tertiary education in the Zambia.

Fr Chilambwe called for a frame work to regulate quality of education being delivered, especially in a wake of too many higher learning institutions in Zambia.

“When you have so many institutions of higher learning, there must be a framework to ensure that that what matters is not the number, but the quality of education being offered,

“And I am sure that quality is a challenge the education system is facing in Zambia. We are however hopeful that in the coming few years this will be addressed,” he said.

Fr. Chilambwe said the Catholic Church strongly believed that education in its truest sense was about giving people orientation, direction and true meaning of life.

“Education goes beyond the getting of knowledge. It is for an application of the dignity of each and every member of society. The Catholic education believes that education is vital for the integral development of the people in social, economic, cultural, spiritual, political and religious spheres,” he said.

The clergyman explained that there could not be true and authentic development without well-educated citizens.

“There cannot be true and authentic development without well-educated citizens, therefore education is not a privilege for a few people but is basically a fundamental right for each and every citizen of any given country,” he noted.

The clergyman was speaking when he conducted Holy Mass at Zambia Catholic University (ZCU), Mass Communications Faculty in Lusaka on Friday.

He said the purpose of a Catholic education was for the formation of students who would not only be good citizens of today but also for the world to come.

Meanwhile government will soon down grade all universities in Zambia and those failing to meet required standards will be reduced to mere colleges, minister of Higher Education Nkandu Luo has warned.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for the Zambia Institute of Banking and Financial Services (ZIBFS) in Lusaka yesterday, Ms Luo said that all universities in Zambia needed to be of high and international standard.

She said that universities needed to produce graduates who should be able to contribute positively to the growth of the nation and that they should also be competitive.

And ZIBFS president Chepas Chabu said that the banking sector was key in transforming the country’s economy and that the institute was committed to producing graduates of high caliber.

Mr Chabu congratulated the graduates and employed them to help transform the financial
sector in the country.