In a heartfelt and inspiring address delivered at the 2025 End of Year Staff Luncheon on Friday, 19 December, the Vice Chancellor of Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), Professor Engineer Quinton Chamunorwa Kanhukamwe, painted a vivid picture of a year of unparalleled achievement and set a bold vision for the future. Speaking to a gathering of Senior Management staff, Departmental Chairpersons, and the entire staff body, the Vice Chancellor declared 2025 a landmark year in which “our institution’s light has shone brightly on national, regional, and international stages.”
Professor Kanhukamwe opened by extending his deepest gratitude to every member of staff, emphasising that the year’s successes were a direct result of their collective effort. “You are the engine of HIT,” he stated, framing the luncheon as a well-deserved celebration of their dedication in lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, and offices.
The narrative of 2025, as recounted by the Vice Chancellor, was one of mounting recognition and influence. He highlighted his own appointments as Chairman of the Southern African Universities Association (SARUA) and to the Governing Board of the Association of African Universities, positions he framed not as personal accolades but as endorsements of HIT’s growing stature. This continental acknowledgement was further solidified by HIT receiving the African Educational Leadership Excellence Award and inclusion in the prestigious African University Excellence and Impact Index Listing.
The core of HIT’s mandate of developing, incubating, transferring and commercialisation of technology for rapid national industrialisation yielded spectacular triumphs. Prof Kanukamwe proudly listed a series of national and international accollades: students from the School of Information Science and Technology claiming the award for Best Website at the Expo 2025 Osaka launch; Andiswa Dube and the HIT Endowment Fund team dominating the Portfolio Engineering Challenge; the Enactus team securing third place nationally in the Schneider Electric Innovation Challenge with a sustainable battery project. A crowning achievement was the student start-up, Afrainity Technologies, which won the Gold Prize and US$5,000 in seed funding at the POTRAZ Innovation Expo for their Mutumwa AI innovation.
The Vice Chancellor also underscored HIT’s pivotal role in national development, citing the transformative partnership with POTRAZ that has seen the certification of nearly 900 Data Protection Officers, significantly advancing Zimbabwe’s digital sovereignty.
A major highlight of the year was the resounding success of the flagship HIT Technovation Expo 2025. Held under the theme “Designing the Future,” the week-long event celebrated two decades of commercialising innovation. The VC described it as a dynamic showcase of HIT’s living commitment to Heritage-Based Education 5.0, featuring events ranging from a keynote on advancing Zimbabwe’s lithium value chain to a game development hackathon and an international AI in healthcare conference. He also reported significant progress on the university’s pioneering Lithium Battery Project, positioning Zimbabwe as a potential centre for clean energy innovation.
Institutional honours were abundant in 2025. HIT was crowned the “Diamond Winner and Outstanding Academic Institution of the Year 2025” at the Megafest Awards and received the First Runner-up award for Innovation at the Corporate Shared Value Awards. Even the university’s support for holistic development was recognised with a National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) Athletics Excellence Award.
Professor Kanhukamwe detailed a year of strategic global expansion. A key milestone was HIT’s acceptance into the International Association of Universities in November, unlocking new avenues for collaboration. This was complemented by new Memoranda of Understanding with Sias University (China), CCN University of Science & Technology (Bangladesh), and Seoul Cyber University (South Korea). Recent high-level engagements with delegations from the University of Tokyo and the Spanish Embassy underscored that “the world is coming to HIT, and HIT is going to the world.”
He also congratulated the Board Chairman, Dr Grace Taruvinga, on her nomination as Board Chairperson of the Year, highlighting the strength of governance underpinning HIT’s success.
Looking forward, the VC announced that the recently concluded Strategic Planning Workshop has forged an actionable roadmap for 2026-2030. This plan is deeply aligned with the national Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) 2, ensuring HIT remains the primary engine for Zimbabwe’s technological advancement through commercialised innovations.
In his closing remarks, Professor Kanhukamwe urged staff to rest and recharge over the festive season. “Let us return in 2026 with the same pioneering spirit, ready to build on this incredible momentum,” he said. “The future of HIT is bright because you are its shining light.”
The HIT Vice Chancellor concluded by wishing all staff and their families a peaceful and blessed festive season, and a prosperous, innovative 2026, leaving the HIT community united and inspired for the journey ahead.
