Zimbabwe’s mining industry is gaining a new pipeline of technically trained workers through a China-Zimbabwe vocational training partnership that has equipped 31 Zimbabwean students with mechanical and electrical engineering skills, with some set to join Huayou Cobalt’s Zimbabwe operations as interns, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The students completed an 18-month China-Africa Applied Talents Joint Teaching Programme run by Ningbo Polytechnic University (NBPU) and Harare Polytechnic, with the training designed around the technical requirements of industry.
The programme’s industry component has brought Huayou Cobalt into the training process, with company engineers contributing to curriculum development and practical training.
At a graduation ceremony in Ningbo on September 17, a group of outstanding students received pre-employment offer letters for internships at Huayou Cobalt’s Zimbabwe base following their return home.
The development comes as Zimbabwe seeks to expand its mining and mineral-processing capacity, increasing demand for technicians capable of operating and maintaining increasingly sophisticated industrial equipment.
The training partnership has focused on mechanical and electrical engineering, disciplines that underpin mining operations, mineral processing, plant maintenance, power systems and other industrial activities.
Huayou Africa Industrial Group HR head for its Zimbabwe base, Chen Minghui, congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to build on their training through practical experience when they return to Zimbabwe.
The programme is part of a broader expansion of China-Zimbabwe cooperation in technical and vocational education.
Since 2022, Ningbo Polytechnic University and Harare Polytechnic have worked together under the China-Africa Applied Talents Joint Teaching Programme, while in May this year, NBPU, Zimbabwe’s Tertiary Education Service Council and Huayou Cobalt launched the Sino-Zimbabwe Engineering Technology Academy and the China-Zimbabwe Silk Road Teacher Capacity Building Centre.
The initiatives bring government, educational institutions and industry into a single training model aimed at developing technical skills linked to industrial requirements.
For Zimbabwe’s mining sector, the approach could provide a mechanism for developing locally based technical skills alongside investment in mines, processing facilities and other mining-related infrastructure.
The 31 graduates now return to Zimbabwe with practical training obtained in China, while those receiving Huayou’s internship offers have a direct route into one of the country’s major mining and processing operations.
The development also highlights the growing role of industry-linked technical education as Zimbabwe seeks to move beyond the extraction of minerals towards greater local processing and industrialisation.
