Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) has lost 50 members of staff through a brain drain since January this year.
GZU vice-chancellor Rungano Zvobgo said the mass staff exodus was affecting the successful implementation of the Education 5.0 policy, NewsDay reported. Zvobgo said at the institution’s graduation ceremony recently:
This year alone, we lost 50 members of staff through resignations, five of them were PhD holders. This has negatively impacted our critical mass of specialised human resources.
The trend is said to be common amongst state institutions as educators, and non-academic staff, are leaving the country in search of greener pastures.
The president of the Association of University Teachers of UZ, Zvakanyorwa Wilbert Sadomba and secretary-general Rekopantswe Mate wrote to UZ vice-chancellor Paul Mapfumo in July complaining over poor salaries and working conditions. The union leaders said in a memo:
Your non-consultative and non-participatory approach to administration has caused an unprecedented decline in morale leading to an exodus of experts in vital fields such as medicine.
College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe president David Dzatsunga said lecturers at State institutions have turned destitute. Dzatsunga said:
Quite a number of lecturers are leaving for the diaspora especially because of the low salaries and poor conditions of service incomparable with counterparts in the region and internationally.
Workers in state-owned higher learning institutions are among several groups of workers who have periodically embarked on industrial action in recent years.