Ph.D. productions and employment prospects in Zimbabwe; imperative from Education 5.0 heritage-based education system.

The production of PhDs has been a topical issue for debate about the need for such a qualification as a foundation for development. Literature is awash with arguments that support the need for a Ph.D. as a development thrust in many countries. In most countries in the West and Europe, their developmental thrust has been anchored on the production and employability of Ph.D. holders. Although this has been the case elsewhere, the same may not be accurate in Africa, particularly Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe engaged in an ambitious project called Education 5.0 Heritage-Based Education System as an impetus to develop the country with the production and employability of Ph.D.s as one of its objectives. Still, the progress of such a policy remains untested and over-ambitious. Reviewing three articles from the University World News one by Maina Waruru, and Eric Fredua-Kwarteng’s two articles vis-a-vis the production and employment prospects of Ph.Ds in Zimbabwe, this paper aims to critically analyze the imperatives of Heritage-Based Education 5.0 and its impact on the production and employment prospects of Ph.Ds, in Zimbabwe. From this analysis, the article argues that although the Western Ph.D. model is not entirely suitable for Africa and Zimbabwe in particular, its principles and objectives are something Zimbabwe would have to learn from as it develops its policies. Thus, the article questions the aims of the Education 5.0 policy based on the demands and expectations of Ph.D. graduates. For a country that has gone through cycles of poverty and policy changes and has little capacity to produce the minimum number of doctorates required to influence meaningful economic development, it is difficult to justify its shift in policy from the norm as far as Ph.D. production and employment are concerned. The analysis reports several areas of shortcomings, the challenges in the production of Ph.D.s in Zimbabwe, the capacity of supervisors, knowledge generation, and the employability of Ph.D. holders in Zimbabwe.