HEA Launches 2022 Sate of Higher Education in Zambia Report
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) launched its 2022 State of Higher Education in Zambia Report.
HEA published the 2022 State of Higher Education in Zambia Report in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013 Part II Section 6 (2) (b) (ii). The theme of the 2022 edition of the report is Curricula in Higher Education.
The 2022 State of Higher Education in Zambia Report was launched at an event at Pamodzi Hotel by the Honourable Minister of Education, Mr. Douglas Munsaka Syakalima, MP., who was represented by the Permanent Secretary – Administration in the Ministry, Ms. Noriana Muneku.
The 2022 Report provides vital statistics on the state of higher education in Zambia. The data on vital statistics was obtained through a census of universities and university colleges in Zambia. The Census focused on student enrolment and graduation rates by gender and field of study, level of study, academic staff by rank, level of qualification, and specialisation.
Therefore, the results of the census showed an increase in the number of students from 126,739 in 2021 to 156,044 in 2022. Of these students, the majority were in the fields of health and welfare, education, business and law. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields recorded the lowest number of students at 20% (31,221) of all students.
The increase in the number of students in universities was largely attributed to the university sector’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of university colleges and technical university colleges. In total 6 private university colleges and 1 technical university college were established during the year under review. On the other hand, the number of universities stood at 61. Of the 61 universities, 9 were public and the rest (52) were private.
Furthermore, the 2022 State of Higher Education in Zambia Report focused on providing a platform for discussing topical or emerging issues in higher education, with the report’s focusing on four (4) papers on the theme, Curricula in Higher Education.
The papers in the report showed the importance of using curriculum development models or approaches that are responsive to student and societal needs. In this regard, the bottom-up and competence-based approaches were recommended as the most appropriate models for achieving this objective.
Thus, there is a call for the higher education system in Zambia to broaden its curricula to include foreign languages. It was argued that learning a foreign language increases global understanding, employment potential, develops life skills, and strengthens diplomatic relations world over.
