**4. Value of education 5.0 in Zimbabwe**

Generally, all interviewees argued that Education 5.0 and VLEs are steps in the right direction for the tertiary and higher education sector in Zimbabwe. These policies and practices are needed to provide solutions to mounting economic problems that have lowered the standards of living of ordinary people not only in Zimbabwe but the world over. Education 5.0 is perceived as a solution to the economy's waning fortunes. However, lecturers in the DCAD at CUT do not view the Education 5.0 policy as novel. Interviewee 2 noted, "I think it's not new. It has always been important for graduate students to be taught skills in addition to theory."

Interviewee 1 noted, "It's what we have been doing in the School of Art and Design (SAD). The nomenclature speaks for itself. We were ahead of the announcement by the government. We are not even surprised or scratching our heads about what to do. We know what to do. We have been doing it." Interviewee 3 stated, "I do not see anything new about Education 5.0 for our school and CUT. It has been the order of the day before all this hype about Education 5.0. It has been the culture at the university." Interviewee 4 observed, "Maybe it's only the title that has been improved to be specific. In our department, we have always talked about design, creativity, innovation, and commercialisation. Again, it's the university's motto - technology, innovation, and wealth." Interviewee 5 said, "I can't distinguish the difference between what we have been doing (Education 3.0) since the school was founded and the new tertiary and higher education teaching and learning or discourse (Education 5.0). Our students have been producing goods. We are an innovation and technology institution."

On a positive note, all interviewees (100%) agreed and valued the worth of the dogma of Education 5.0. However, interviewees also held a general feeling that the Ministry of Tertiary and Higher Education Science and Technology Development (MTHESTD) hindered the curriculum review. This means that HEIs have lost their autonomy in designing degree or diploma programs based on their understanding of graduate needs and desires.

In Zimbabwe, Education 5.0 builds on the new dispensation's (Second Republic) political ambitions to control all critical sectors of the country's economy and the need to prove a difference to the ex-president's (the late Mugabe's) era. Because of this, among other reasons, lecturers in tertiary and higher education institutions could not receive the new education policy with honour, as they felt politicians continually interfere with their work and consider little or no input at all from them.

The subsequent views from the research participants reflect on the need to produce graduates with high-end skills that are required for Zimbabwe to trigger sound teaching, research, community service, innovation, and industrialisation.

Interviewee 1 noted that Education 5.0

*...is an area that focuses on the acquisition of both theory and skills with a thrust, enabling students to develop creativity and innovation skills. Besides being creative, they need to have the ability to produce, to come up with artefacts, to come up with products that will have an impact on technology or technological development. It's more like experiential learning. You don't want your student to just master your theory or content, but they must be able to apply that content to make a difference in the area of industrial development.*
