The TVE in Zimbabwe was rationalized in 1990 when it was structured into five (5) levels which are Pre-Vocational Certificate (PVC), National Foundation Certificate
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(NFC), National Certificate (NC), National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) (UNESCO and ZIMDEF 2005). The HND was equivalent to a general degree which was a technologist grade and was at the sixth level in the Zimbabwe Qualifications Framework (ZQF) (Nziramasanga, 1990). With effect from 2004, the polytechnics were able to upgrade technical and vocational education training qualifications to graduate and postgraduate levels by adding only one year to the HND leading to a Bachelor of Technology ( Honours) degree, hoping to progress to Master of Technology degree and Doctor of Technology degree in the future. Currently, institutions of higher learning allow students to move from technical and vocational institutions to the other TVE institutions without losing credits.However, thestudents get disadvantaged when they join universities because there is no national policy that guides such movements (UNESCO & UNICEF, 2005). Therefore, the individual departments within universities are given discretion to place students from the TVE institutions at any level they deem necessary.Hence, those students doing Textile, Clothing and Design programmes are mostly affected in terms of content coverage at the universities considering their various background qualifications from the various private and government institutions such as Polytechnics, Technical Colleges, Technical Teachers’ Colleges, Teachers’ Colleges, and Vocational Training Centres. From the course analysis in Textile, Clothing and Design Training institutions in the Eastern-Southern Africa by Nguku (2013), TCD programmes lack strong multi- disciplinary skills and application components in some programs where critical textile processes are not adequately addressed.There is also minimal design management content knowledge incorporated in the programmes.
The issue of lacking quality in tertiary education has also been raised by Mawoyo (2013) who points out that after Zimbabwe’s independence, the tertiary education system focused on increasing access to education without paying attention to issues of quality. Quality is achieved through well-tailored programmes that cater for students’ diversities and provide high quality learning experiences that can adequately meet industry requirements (Afeti, 2014; SARUA, 2009; UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2013). Due to the use of an inadequately structured curriculum in Textile, Clothing and Design programs at tertiary education level in Zimbabwe, the industry stakeholders noted that university college students were well grounded in theoretical knowledge but complained that they were not competent in practical aspects, probably as a result of
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inadequate training due to lack of trained staff to operate and train students on specialized equipment and techniques (Nguku, 2012; Bozalek et al., 2013; Nguku, 2013; Bandias, Fuller & Larkin, 2013; Rip & Kulati, 2013; Hills & Rip, 2013). The TCD lecturers may need to adapt the programmes so that the curricular address the industry requirements as well as the needs of diverse students. The industry stakeholders indicated that students from Technical and Vocational Training institutions were competent in practical skills as they couldhandle assignments with little supervision although they lacked theoretical elements. This implied that these institutions place more emphasis on practical skills than theoretical content. It can also imply that the university curriculum implementers place more emphasis on theoretical content at the expense of practical skills. Nguku (2012, 2013) and Curriculum Analysis Whitepaper (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)(2008) observethat the TCD training institutions, especially universities, need to urgently revise the way they develop their curricular which may necessitate change in implementation policies so that more emphasis is placed on the value of the programmes and balancing of both practical and theoretical content knowledge as opposed to attracting high student numbers.The value of a programme may be influenced by adopted implementation strategies and its ability to meet the students’ needs.
Currently many companies recruit candidates who need at least four years to complete the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) (that includes TCD students) at Diploma level and spend one of these years at a college or polytechnic (UNESCO & ZIMDEF, 2005). Direct entry TVE Diploma students do the same programme in three years in which two years are spent at college or polytechnic and one on industrial attachment. In an effort to upgrade some of the TVET programmes to university level, some universities were established. This study sought to establish how the universities structured their programme content to accommodate candidates with diverse academic backgrounds and possibly come up with a proposed model of curriculum implementation that may improve transference and progression of candidates from colleges and schools to universities.
Zimbabwe’s higher education engaged in widening access to tertiary education through a rampant introduction of universities and upgrading of colleges into university colleges (SARUA, 2009; Murerwa and Chigwedere, 2004). Because of the
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mushrooming of many universities, infrastructure, qualified personnel and equipment became a challenge that heavily impacted the quality of TCD education (SARUA, 2009). Work related learning and internships for students deteriorated radically due to liquidation of companies. This seriously affected the curricular for TCD since places for experiential learning and experimentation were difficult to come by, hence affecting curriculum implementation with regard to equipping students with relevant practical skills. This study sought to find out how the TCD curriculum and implementation strategies can be adapted to meet the needs of students with diverse academic backgrounds in order to improve the quality of TCD education at university level and also address the needs of the textile and clothing industry at large.
In a bid to improve quality of technical and vocational education, Belvedere and Chinhoyi Technical Teachers’ colleges were introduced to train qualified teachers for TVE programmes. However, the institutions were criticized for not affording enough time for practical training.The students were therefore, insufficiently trained (UNESCO & ZIMDEF, 2005). The products from the technical teachers’ colleges, TVET colleges and Advanced level enroll at universities of technology to acquire degrees in their special areas. Therefore, this study soughtto examine the strategies used in the provision of TCD programmes at the sampled universities in order to address the different TCD content gaps among the students as well as to fulfill the intended degree learning outcomes.
A study by Kanyongo (2005) reveals that industry in Zimbabwe complains about the poor quality of curriculum that lacks the prerequisite skills for employability of the graduates. The OECD (2008) report notes that Zimbabwe’s tertiary education is of poor quality because it lacks equity in student access. This means that the entrance qualifications for students vary leading to acceptance of students with various background qualifications.Although there is equality of TCD student access to tertiary level education through acceptance of students with various levels of qualifications, the issue of how the programmes are structured to accommodate the various levels of qualifications to enhance advancement in knowledge and skills acquisition among students needs to be addressed by this research. It is imperative that this study also examines assessment processes used to assess TCD students from diverse backgrounds to establish whether they enable achievement of programme learning outcomes or not. Mupinga, Burnett and Redmann (2005) carried out a study to
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examine the purpose of TVE in Zimbabwe’s high schools and revealed that the programme lacks clarity of purpose and there are differences between the purpose of programmes, as viewed by teachers, and that which is in official documents, whether it is prevocational or intensive skill training. This confusion among implementers and curriculum documents leads to variance in curriculum content and skills delivery strategies. As a result, this heavily impacts on the structure of TCD programmes and implementation strategies at university level, hence, the need to find out which content aspects are emphasized by the university TCD curriculum and how the curriculum accommodates students with various levels of knowledge and skills backgrounds to ensure high quality TCD.
In addition to the above, Primrose and Alexander (2013) observe that the current curriculum in higher education needs strengthening in development of values and in catering for needs and aspirations for self-reliance and entrepreneurship in order to produce a graduate who is a responsible, productive and self-sustaining citizen. The strengthening relates to improvement in thequality of programmes’ content and implementation strategies which isthe purpose of this study. Macpherson and Holt (2007) cite the problem of the dynamic environment that is characterized by changing trends, globalization and sustainability issues. These issues may be addressed through curriculum and assessment adaptation and designing of delivery techniques to effectively cater for the students who enter university institutions with diverse academic backgrounds.