THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMES IN ZIMBABWE

Year 2019, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 1 - 15, 31.07.2019

Mapeto Bomani Ziska Fields Evelyn Derera

Abstract

The role of universities in promoting Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
development has attracted much interest among researchers worldwide. These
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) constitute several governments’ grand
strategies of promoting the development of small businesses. The purpose of this
paper is to explore the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in promoting
the development of SMEs in Zimbabwe. Interpretivism was adopted as a
philosophy to guide the study. The study adopted a qualitative approach in which
data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews. Respondents were
drawn from six state universities through convenience and purposive sampling.
Data analysis was conducted through content analysis. The results of the study
revealed that the HEIs are promoting the development of SMEs through
technology transfer, workshops on SMEs, short courses for small businesses and
providing consultancy services. Furthermore, HEIs also provide skilled manpower
for SMEs, and Entrepreneurship courses in the curriculum to create an
entrepreneurial spirit among students. The study recommends that sector-specific
training programmes must be provided for manufacturing, retail and services
sectors. Additionally, the curriculum needs to be reviewed such that
Entrepreneurship becomes a core module in all degree programmes to further promote an entrepreneurship culture among students and produce graduates that
have an entrepreneurial mindset. Incubation centres also need to be established at
universities to reduce the risk of failure among SMEs. Universities should partner
with government ministries and the industry to effectively support the
development of SMEs in Zimbabwe.

Keywords

Higher education institutions, development of SMEs, universities, training, technology transfer, entrepreneurship

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