THE Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education will send a team to Zambia to assess medical degree programmes hosting more than 5 000 Zimbabwean students, amid concerns over standards and professional recognition.
ZIMCHE chief executive officer Kuzvinetsa Dzvimbo said the inspection aims to protect the credibility of qualifications earned abroad and ensure graduates meet requirements to practise in Zimbabwe.
“There is a university in Zambia where about 5 000 Zimbabweans are studying medicine, so we want to make sure that when they come back, they will be accepted by the medical profession,” Dzvimbo told Newsonline.
Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe registrar Josephine Mwakutuya said graduates from foreign universities must pass a council evaluation before registration.
“ZIMCHE does academic quality assurance. We deal with fitness to practise. No foreign-trained doctor is licensed automatically,” Mwakutuya said.
She said the council conducts accreditation checks and internship assessments for all returning graduates.
“The surge in numbers means we must be thorough. Patients deserve doctors trained to our national standards,” she said.
Dzvimbo said ZIMCHE will also send teams to Uganda, Kenya and Namibia to benchmark degree programmes against local, regional and international standards.
“I will be in Uganda next week, some colleagues will be in Kenya, and others in Namibia. We are looking at degree programmes and comparing them with those in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The council said the audits are part of efforts to align foreign qualifications with Zimbabwe’s quality assurance framework and labour market needs.
ZIMCHE requires universities introducing new degrees to name comparator programmes locally and abroad before approval.
“When a head of department or a dean comes to us and says they want to introduce a degree, the first question we ask is: who is your comparator?” Dzvimbo said.
Evaluations are conducted by panels of associate and full professors from Zimbabwe and abroad, including academics based in the United Kingdom and United States.
Speaking at Bindura University of Science Education, Dzvimbo assured students that local degrees undergo continuous review to remain competitive globally.
“We want to make sure that what you study prepares you for industry, commerce and government anywhere in the world,” he said.
He described Zimbabwe’s quality assurance system as “sacrosanct” and said ZIMCHE’s Higher Education Quality Assurance Board, drawn from academia, government and industry, works to address gaps in programmes.
The board engages institutions to improve curricula and ensure graduates remain competitive.
