“Curriculum Must Carry Higher Education into the Digital Age” – Dr. Mushumba
Higher Education Authority (HEA) Director – Quality Assurance, Dr. Martin Mushumba, has urged Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to begin using curriculum as a practical tool for digital transformation.
Dr. Mushumba said this when he gave the overview of the objectives and expectations of the 2026 Winter School Capacity Building Workshop for HEIs at Chrismar Hotel in Livingstone.
The three (3)-day workshop, which ran from 15th to 17th July, 2026, is being held under the theme, “Strengthening higher education curriculum quality through quality assurance in the era of digital transformation and artificial intelligence.”
Building on the Director-General’s opening remarks, Dr. Mushumba said that the cornerstone of the meeting was the need to reposition higher education towards digital transformation, using curriculum as one of the most practical tools available to institutions.
“We think there is need for us to already begin to reposition our higher education sector towards digital transformation,” Dr. Mushumba said.
He said the goal was to build capacity within institutions so that curriculum becomes a vehicle for producing graduates who are competitive in the 21st century world.
“We are trying to reposition the curriculum to be able to lead us through digital transition, digital transformation and digital practicability in our everyday achievement of our goals and missions as institutions of higher learning,” the Director said.
Dr. Mushumba said that HEA had identified a gap in the level of appreciation of digital transformation in the sector and that the Winter School was designed to help institutions understand how technologies such as artificial intelligence can be leveraged to build a more competitive higher education system.
He noted that AI has already entered classrooms, lecture halls and institutional workspaces, but the sector must now interrogate how it is being used and whether it is moving in the right direction.
The Director – Quality Assurance further said that the workshop would also help HEIs reflect on the 2023 Zambia Education Curriculum Framework, which is already under implementation, and understand institutional expectations under the competence-based curriculum framework.
For HEA, the curriculum conversation is, therefore, not theoretical. It is about whether institutions are prepared to deliver higher education that is digitally aware, quality-driven and relevant to the future.
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