The human capital in the Zimbabwean labour market lacks the capacities to critically and creatively address technological, economic and industrial challenges. The new education policy, Education 5.0 requires graduates to design solutions to these problems. This conceptual paper demonstrates that the required creative and critical skills necessary for innovation are currently not learnt and developed in higher education. Creative and critical thinking skills form the core objectives of art education, but are neglected and negated by stakeholders. A fluidity of skills rooted in basic and advanced competencies which are grounded in abilities such as critical thinking, communication, and creativity have been characteristic of Zimbabwean art teacher education programs and can be seen as transferable in addressing other challenges.