A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DIGITISATION OF RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
AT SELECTED STATE UNIVERSITIES IN ZIMBABWE

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DIGITISATION OF RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
AT SELECTED STATE UNIVERSITIES IN ZIMBABWE

GODFREY TSVUURA

PATRICK NGULUBE

This research study investigates the digitisation of records and archives at two selected state
universities in Zimbabwe, namely, Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) and Harare Institute of
Technology (HIT). The two state universities have embarked on digitisation of their records and
archives resources in line with new technological trends of carrying out business online in both
teaching and administration. Mukred et al. (2019), and Mukred and Yusof (2018) stated that digital
technology in the educational sector can play a positive role in building on traditional learning
and teaching methods, enabling students to have easy access to the information they need and
leveraging academic achievements. However, Ambira, Kemoni and Ngulube (2019) observed that
digitisation, in most cases, is disjointed and uncoordinated, with each section adopting its strategy
and approach. Such practices negate the collective principle and responsibility of working jointly
towards delivering goods and services to stakeholders (Ambira et al. 2019).
The objective of this study was to determine whether the state universities were using a model or
framework for managing the digital records and archives, as digitisation of records and archives
must be a well-planned project with adequate resources and framework of operation (Tsvuura &
Ngulube 2020). Another objective was to identify the gaps that exist in the digitisation of records and
archives in the two selected state universities and recommend ways of filling those gaps, if they exist

South African Journal of Information Management

2021