From 2 Stories in 60 Days to a Media Surge: Summer School Delivers Results
Two (2) months ago, a single question brought a room of journalists to silence, “In the last 30 days, how many of you have written a story about higher education?”
No hands went up. At best, it was 2 stories in 60 days.
That moment, delivered by veteran broadcaster and ZNBC Controller News, Mr. Grevazio Zulu, during the HEA Summer School Media Training Workshop held on 10th and 11th February, 2026, at Sarovar Hotel in Lusaka, exposed a critical gap in how the higher education sector was being covered.
But today, just 2 months later, the story has completely changed as the higher education subsector is now prominently in the headlines.
Since the Summer School, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has recorded a significant surge in media engagement, both in volume and diversity, with coverage spanning public and private media houses, television, radio, print, and online platforms.
Within weeks of the training, HEA experts began appearing across major platforms including the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), Money FM, Crown TV, Sun TV, Sky FM, and the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS).
At the same time, media houses began reaching out, with queries coming from UNZA Radio, News Diggers Newspaper, Nkwazi News Media, The Mole, and the Independent Observer, signalling a growing demand for HEA’s expert voice on issues such as accreditation, compliance, and quality assurance.
What is most striking is not just the increase in numbers, but the depth and continuity of coverage as stories are no longer isolated but are connected.
A single issue, such as the CEEC Loan Facility, generated initial coverage from HEA (Money FM) through a newspaper version and radio version, and a follow-up story from CEEC’s perspective, showing that this is no longer reporting but narrative building.
From silence to momentum that if we visualise the shift will show that before the Summer School Media Training Workshop, it was almost flat, with only 2 stories in 60 days. But after the Summer School, there has been a sharp upward trend across platforms as the sector has moved from near invisibility to consistent national conversation.
Across Platforms and across the country, coverage has not been limited to one type of media but it has cut across Public Broadcasters like the ZNBC and ZANIS, to Private Media like Crown TV, Sun TV, Sky FM and Money FM, to Print Media like News Diggers Newspaper, and Online Platforms like the Independent Observer, the Mole and Nkwazi News Media.
This diversity matters as it means higher education is no longer confined to policy rooms but it is now in homes, on radios, on screens and in national discourse.
A Direct Result of Intentional Investment through the transformation agenda that has been set by HEA Director-General, Professor Kazhila C. Chinsembu, this shift is not accidental but is a direct outcome of the HEA Summer School Media Training Workshop, which was designed to improve understanding of higher education regulation, strengthen journalist–HEA engagement, encourage sustained and informed reporting on the sector.
The results are now visible as journalists are not only covering higher education, they are asking better questions, following up stories and seeking expert input.
However, the work continues as the growing number of media queries and invitations, including the recent ZNBC Radio 2 appearance on the Accreditation Window, demonstrates sustained interest and demand for higher education content.
In fact, during that appearance, the volume of calls received exceeded available time, leading to an invitation for HEA to return for a follow-up programme this Thursday, 16th April, 2026, at 07:30hrs.
From 2 stories in 60 days to multi-platform, continuous coverage, the transformation is clear, higher education is no longer a blind spot but it is now part of the national conversation.
Read the full article on Mr. Grevazio Zulu’s address here: https://hea.org.zm/veteran-journalist-exposes-the-medias-blind-spot-on-higher-education/
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