The Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE), Professor Emeritus N. M. Bhebe, and members of the ZIMCHE Council are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Wilson Parawira as the substantive ZIMCHE Deputy Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 September 2022.
Professor Parawira brings to the ZIMCHE a wealth of experience, having worked in a range of leadership, management, research and teaching roles within higher education at local, regional and international institutions. With an academic career spanning over 20 years, he has worked as a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Full Professor at various renowned universities, including the University of Zimbabwe, the then Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), now College of Science and Technology under the University of Rwanda, and Stellenbosch University.
Before joining the ZIMCHE, Professor Parawira was the Pro Vice-Chancellor at the Bindura University of Science Education, a position he held since September 2018. Prior to his appointment as Pro Vice-Chancellor he was the Inugural Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at the same institution for 6 years. He was also a Head of Department at the University of Zimbabwe and Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.
A seasoned professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Professor Parawira holds a BSc Honours degree in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Zimbabwe. He obtained his PhD in Environmental Biotechnology from Lund University, Sweden, in 2004. He did his first postdoctoral research fellowship in 2008 at Lund University in Sweden in Anaerobic Digestion and his second postdoctoral research fellowship in Fermentation Process Development in Departments of Process Engineering and Microbiology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2009.
A prolific academic and researcher, Professor Parawira has published extensively in many refereed international journals and has written several book chapters. He has supervised several MSc and PhD students and is still supervising postgraduate students. His research interests are in environmental biotechnology; biofuels; food microbiology; and science, engineering, technology and innovation policies and their effectiveness.
He has been ranked number 8 among the top 500 scientists in Zimbabwe by the Alper-Doger (AD) Scientific Index 2023. He is a member of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences. He is also an external examiner at various universities, including the University of Dar Es Salaam, the University of Namibia, the University of South Africa, Lupane State University and Midlands State University.
The ZIMCHE Council and the entire Secretariat hereby extend hearty congratulations to Professor Parawira on his appointment and wish him all the success in his new role
Makorokoto, Amhlope, Congratulations!!
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