Unpacking the State Of Human Capital in African Universities – The Case of Zimbabwe (Published)
This paper sought to establish the state of Human capital (HC) in selected public universities in Zimbabwe in terms of prevalence of senior academics such as associate professors and professors as well as the impact on the academic and economic development of the universities and the country at large. A good number of key literary sources were consulted on which the theoretical underpinnings of the paper were grounded. A sample of five state universities was chosen. Convenient sampling was adopted whereby the universities were chosen on the basis of availability of quality and completeness of data on the university website. Data was collected on the qualifications and grade of faculty deans and department chairpersons, and lecturing staff from the universities’ websites. All in all, the study covered a total of 18 faculties and 77 departments. The results of the study showed that there was a serious absence of senior academics in selected universities compared to their counterparts in the region and that this was having a negative impact on the quality of the universities’ academic and economic activities.
Keywords: : Human Capital, Professor, Research, Senior Academics, University