THE ROLE OF TERTIARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RECORDS AND
ARCHIVES MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE IN ZIMBABWE

THE ROLE OF TERTIARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RECORDS AND
ARCHIVES MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE IN ZIMBABWE

GODFREY TSVUURA

SAMSON MUTSAGONDO

This work sought to explore the role of tertiary education institutions in the
development of the records and archives management discipline in Zimbabwe. The paper
assessed the contributions made by the few tertiary institutions offering records management
training, the relevance of their curricula in the country and the professional status of records
and archives professionals in industry and society as well as the challenges faced by tertiary
education institutions in offering the programme. Polytechnic colleges currently offer the
National Certificate, National Diploma and Higher National Diploma, while universities offer
bachelors’ degrees and only one university offers a master’s degree. The study made use of the
survey research design where data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. It was
discovered that more still needed to be done in opening up training opportunities for information
professionals as currently only 3 out of 15 universities and 5 out of 7 polytechnic colleges in
Zimbabwe offer records management training. Restricted capacity has a negative impact on
institutions already offering the programme as well as on would-be trainees.

International Journal of English and Education

2015