Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are essential to the innovation, productivity and economic development of developing countries, especially. It is crucial that new knowledge is continually generated and skills developed that are relevant to the current economy, which is necessary to continue economic progress and promote long-term development. Innovation and entrepreneurship is the backbone of sustainable development. In this context, universities and other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to build up the graduates with adequate knowledge, practical skills, technological capacities and technology and society relationship competencies to facilitate the continuous process of economic transformation. There have been three pillars of the Zimbabwe higher education system in the past: teaching, research and community engagement. But, these pillars did not always yield graduates with the skills necessary to meet the demands of the economy in the real world and in the process of change. This led to the development of Education 5.0, which added two more pillars to the traditional one: innovation and industrialisation. The new philosophy of education aimed to cultivate graduates with the ability to translate their knowledge to innovative products, technologies and sustainable solutions to the challenges of the real world. Notwithstanding this progressive policy change, there are still challenges in the implementation and effectiveness of STEM education. In particular, the current STEM education system has failed to meet its goal of producing self-sufficient, innovative and entrepreneurial graduates. The findings of this study thus emphasize the need to significantly redesign and revamp STEM education with deliberate embedment of innovation and entrepreneurship in the design, delivery, and outcomes. To meet this requirement, a new Sustainable Education Model is presented that provides a re-engineered educational model aimed at enhancing the learning outcomes of entrepreneurial competencies, fostering innovation and producing graduates who are able to create sustainable solutions to various challenges of society and the economy.

The Advent of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unanticipated disruption in many activities the world’s populace was accustomed to. One of the major sectors which was hit, was the Education sector. The measures employed by governing bodies worldwide meant that there was need to close down physical learning in Educational institutions in a bid to curb the spread of the deadly contagion. This resulted in an unanticipated shift towards Online-Centred Learning for which most of the institutions were grossly unprepared for especially in relation to Science and Technology related courses. A bird’s eye view on the performance of the students from the period the online learning was instituted has shown a decline with regards to performance as outlined by their results. The pandemic did not only result in challenges within the sector, but also opportunities arose from the same. The paper discussed in depth the effects that the online learning introduced in response to the pandemic had on science and technology students in Zimbabwe’s institutions of Higher Learning. A survey was conducted with students at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo Zimbabwe, in order to obtain their views in relation to online learning. The results obtained showed that 66.7 % of the students were of the view that online learning had been hurried and not been set up accordingly in order to accommodate the student body.