“AI Is Coming to Zambia’s Universities” – HEA Director-General Says the Question Is Not Whether, But How
The Director-General of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Professor Kazhila C. Chinsembu, has stated that artificial intelligence has already arrived in Zambia’s colleges and universities, and the question the higher education subsector must now answer is not whether to embrace it, but how to use it responsibly and productively.
Professor Chinsembu made these remarks during a live one-hour interview on Choma Maanu Radio Station 95.1FM on Friday, 22nd May, 2026, as part of his stakeholder engagement tour of Southern Province. The engagement is part of Strategic Objective No. 2 of HEA’s Strategic Plan 2022–2026, through which the Authority takes its regulatory and policy positions directly to the public, including students, parents, educators and community leaders.
“AI is becoming ubiquitous in higher education,” the Director-General said, continuing, “It is now everywhere and we want Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to embrace AI, to embrace artificial intelligence in a responsible manner, in a way that helps our students to engage in critical thinking.”
Professor Chinsembu was clear that the concern is not AI itself, but it is what students do with it. He drew a sharp distinction between using AI as a shortcut for copying and pasting, and using it as a tool for problem-solving, entrepreneurship and innovation.
“HEA wants students doing the latter,” Professor Chinsembu said, adding, “We would like our students to use AI to help them to solve problems, to think critically, and to help our students to become more practical, more entrepreneurial. We want our students to use AI to build enterprises, to create employment for themselves and others.”
The Director-General pointed to specific sectors where AI holds transformative potential for Zambia: drug discovery, medical diagnostics, mining and agriculture.
He argued that these were not distant possibilities, but were areas where Zambian students and researchers, if properly equipped, could make a real national contribution.
HEA, he added, is developing a National Higher Education Strategy specifically for AI, a framework that will guide HEIs on responsible adoption and ensure that the revolution benefits students rather than undermining the integrity of their learning.
“The bottom line is that we should be able to use AI to increase intellectual curiosity and innovation,” Professor Chinsembu said, concluding, “And to help convert knowledge into solutions for ourselves as a country.”
Listen to Professor Chinsembu’s full 1 hour interview on Choma Maanu Radio Station 95.1FM here: https://youtu.be/GR7mABU7UC8.
#HigherEducationZambia #HEAZambia
————————————————————
📧 Sign up to HEA Mailing List: https://zc.vg/w2f1Z
📲 Join the HEA WhatsApp Channel here:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VasVJip7oQhXnhbaOB2I
📚 Read all HEA News here: https://hea.org.zm/hea-news/
🗳️ Take the National Graduate Survey! https://hea.org.zm/nationalgraduatesurvey/
#NGS2025 #NationalGraduateSurvey
📲 Follow the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube (@HEAZambia) and join the conversation using #HEAZambia #HigherEducationZambia. 📌 Higher Education Authority (HEA) │ 2nd Floor, Engineering House │ Stand No. 2374, Kelvin Siwale Road │ P.O. Box 50795, Ridgeway, Lusaka │ +260 976 936 658│ info@hea.org.zm │ www.hea.org.zm
