Chinese mining giant Huayou Cobalt has signed a landmark Memorandum of Agreement with Harare Polytechnic and Ningbo Polytechnic University to establish the “China-Zimbabwe Institute of Engineering Technology”, in a move expected to strengthen industrial skills transfer and deepen educational cooperation between Zimbabwe and China.
The agreement, signed at a ceremony attended by Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Simelizizwe Sibanda and Huayou Cobalt ESG representative Sun Lihui, is aimed at developing engineering and industrial skills among Zimbabwean students through international academic exchange programmes.
In a statement, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe said the agreement would enable Zimbabwean students to study in China before returning home to contribute to local industrial development.
“This will see Zimbabwean students studying in China and coming back home to apply what they would have learnt. This historic agreement strengthens Sino-Zimbabwe relations in industrial development,” the company said.
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The initiative comes as Zimbabwe intensifies efforts to modernise technical and vocational education in line with the country’s industrialisation agenda and growing investment in the mining sector, particularly lithium beneficiation and value addition.
Chinese firms have become dominant players in Zimbabwe’s lithium industry over the past five years, investing hundreds of millions of dollars into mining operations, processing plants and associated infrastructure.
However, the rapid expansion of Chinese-backed mining projects has also increased pressure on authorities and investors to ensure local skills development, technology transfer and broader economic participation.
The establishment of the China-Zimbabwe Institute of Engineering Technology is expected to bridge part of that gap by creating a pipeline of locally trained technical personnel with exposure to Chinese industrial systems and engineering expertise.
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