Lecturers’ Perceptions on Challenges and Expectations on Work Conditions: Case of Zimbabwe Rural State University

Abstract

This qualitative paper explored the Zimbabwe rural university lecturers’ experiences, challenges, and expectations in the execution of their duties, as they are highly de-motivated. The Zimbabwe Higher and Tertiary Education 5.0 thrust states the roles of universities as consisting of five critical issues: Teaching, Research, Community Engagement, Innovation, and Industrialization have been greatly affected by challenges cited in this article. There is a dearth of literature on the challenges faced by and there is a lack of solutions propagated by lecturers in universities located in rural areas in Zimbabwe. The quality of teaching and learning outcomes in Zimbabwe universities have been deteriorating due to financial, high workload among others. Hence, there is a need to engage in this study to find university lecturers’ views on how these challenges should be addressed to enhance the quality of teaching and learning outcomes. Abraham Maslow’s theoretical framework and narrative paradigm were used in this paper. A purposive sample was used to select nine knowledge-rich university lecturers from Faculty of Education. Data was generated through focus group discussions and content thematic analysis was used to analyze data. The participants responded to two critical questions: ‘what are the challenges faced by rural university lecturers and what should be done to mitigate challenges affecting lecturers in rural areas?’ This article found that highly qualified university lecturers in Zimbabwe are leaving rural universities to international universities seeking greener pastures. Therefore, the paper recommended that Zimbabwe university lecturers should receive salaries and other benefits at par with international universities.