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Nqobile Tshili
Bulawayo Bureau
CONSTRUCTION is being scaled up at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo through expanding the innovation hub and initiating the building of an industrial park as the previous 18 years of neglected work are overcome.

In the 2022 national budget, Treasury allocated $1 billion towards construction works at Nust, a major State University and the second one to be established.

Work is underway to complete the students services centre and the university’s library.

Nust is mandated to produce graduates biased towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, but due in part to lack of proper infrastructure, the institution has been enrolling more commercial students, betraying its core mandate.

Construction work at Nust had been stagnant for almost 18 years with cranes and incomplete buildings being synonymous with the university.

Nust is supposed to have 27 buildings but only seven have been completed and some buildings are now dilapidated.

However, just like other projects in Matabeleland that have been neglected for years, the Second Republic has committed resources towards completing them.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira told our sister paper, the Chronicle, that the lack of progress in the construction of Nust infrastructure has been a pain for the Government.

But this is changing as two additional structures will be constructed starting this year.

“With Nust, we have been very busy trying to resuscitate the programmes of construction. It has been a pain on our side but we want to make sure that these projects start to take off. But I’m happy to say the students services centre is now on its way up. Also, we have the prototyping industrial machines that we have put at Nust and they have been installed at the Works Department,” he said.

“I believe we will be able to build the Industrial Park at Nust on the Gwanda Road side of the institution. We will be able to do it this year. I have received diagrams of the new industrial shells and also of the expanded innovation hub. So, what I’m telling you is that we are busy with a lot of things.”

The Minister said Nust is expected to expand the innovation hub which houses some of its flagship projects including the Applied Genetic testing centre which conducts DNA profiling.

Prof Murwira said the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund has been financing the construction of innovation hubs and industrial parks at universities as well implementation of projects at the universities.

He said Government was aware that Zimdef was disbursing few allowances to students on attachment as most of the funds are being channelled towards capacitating institutions of higher learning.

Prof Murwira said the higher and tertiary education ministry has moved beyond conceptualisation of innovation projects to actually producing models that can be transformed into tangible products.

“We are now in the innovation hubs producing prototypes. After producing prototypes, we want to make them part of the production line. We are on the move, there is a lot of work to be done. There is still a lot of confidence that we have to develop but I’m happy that we are on the move,” he said.

Prof Murwira said universities have managed to navigate the challenges that were brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the adoption of blended learning has been highly successful as all the country’s universities have managed to complete degree courses resulting in students graduating in all their studies.