Author

Samson Mhlanga

Title

Innovative Course Management Through The Quality Improvement Process: Inter-university Initiatives Promoting Sustainable Development

News

The EU-ZW Project Team participated in the Education for Sustainable Development Inter-disciplinary Research (ESDIR) Conference recently held at the National University of Science and Technology on 16 – 18 October 2024, running under the theme: "Exploring Innovative Approaches & Emerging Trends in Education for Sustainable Development”. Samson Mhlanga (Project Coordinator) presented, on behalf of co-authors Nduduzo Phuthi, Lwazi Sibanda, Edson Manyumbu and Torsten Fransson, a paper entitled Innovative course management through the quality improvement process: inter-university initiatives promoting sustainable development. The presentation highlighted the growing role of the Quality Improvement Process (QIP), a useful tool designed primarily for industry and business enterprises, which is applied in the EU-ZW higher education project primarily to address the scarcity of critical resources for teaching and learning by entrenching the use of remote laboratories in needy institutions. Remote laboratories created in better-resourced environments provide a systematic alignment of academic activities toward ensuring that the same inputs are providing the same desired results through standardization and reduced process variation through co-creation and peer evaluation across international institutions. The progress made in the project is proving to be insightful for the participating institutions, and it is recommended that the QIP model be adopted more fully in future with an aim of development modules, Topics, course that have a Digital Academy Quality gold badge. The presentation analysed the initial stages of a process of improving and enriching the learning experiences of students in sustainable energy in five Zimbabwe universities in partnership with selected European institutions. The chosen area of energy is a realisation of the need for clean energy production and use in line with the UN sustainable development goals (SDG’s). The EU-ZW Digital Challenge Driven Energy Learning Collaboration Between EU and Zimbabwe is funded by European Union. The conference was graced by Prof K P Dzvimbo Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education ZIMCHE mandated promote and co-ordinate education provided by institutions of higher education while acting as a regulator in the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examinations, academic qualifications and research in institutions of higher education. Among their functions are to design and recommend an institutional quality assurance system for higher education; to develop and implement an accreditation and evaluation framework for learning programmes.

Fig 1: (from left) Prof Lwazi Sibanda (Dean - Faculty of Science and Technology Education), Prof Y Naik (Pro-Vice Research and Academic Affairs) and Prof K P Dzvimbo  (ZIMCHE CEO)

Fig 2: Group photo of the Education for Sustainable Development Inter-disciplinary Research (ESDIR) Conference 

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