**7. Conclusions**

The relevance of new higher education approaches in Zimbabwe has been proven to be unstable following the outbreak of COVID-19. Education 5.0 still demands a lot in terms of commitment on the part of the lecturers in HEIs, though they argue it is not a new development in their day-to-day work. It further emerged that Education 5.0 was adopted without considering unplanned developments such as COVID-19, a disease that changed the status of teaching and learning. The pandemic called for the use of VLEs since all teaching and learning has become predominately virtual. The disease has made online teaching and learning mandatory in Zimbabwe. The cost implications of VLEs are extensive and only a few learners can afford the resources needed to participate in VLEs. Supporting digital equipment for the purpose of teaching and learning is expensive. This research concludes that a handful of graduate students may finish their higher education and training with the requisite skills needed in industry. It is therefore recommended that Zimbabwean HEIs return to the previous Education 3.0 model until the global economy has been balanced.
