Speech by Apm on the Occassion of the 16th Congregation of Mzuni

8/11/2019 Speech by Apm on the Occassion of the 16th Congregation of Mzuni

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REPUBLIC OF MALAWI

STATEMENT BY

HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. ARTHUR

PETER MUTHARIKA,

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF

MALAWI

ON THE

OCASSION OF THE 16TH

CONGREGATION

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AT MZUZU UNIVERSITY

FRIDAY, 22NDAUGUST 2014.

First Lady of the Republic ofMalawi, Madame Gertrude

Mutharika,

The Vice President of the

Republic of Malawi, Right

Honourable Saulos Klaus

Chilima, and Mrs. Mary Chilima

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University Registrar, Mr. Vyson

Jedegwa

University Librarian, Deans,

Heads of department and

Academic staff and non-

Academic staff of Mzuzu

University

Invited dignitaries and

Honourable guests

Graduating students

Parents and Guardians

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Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to return to

Mzuzu University and especially to take

on the role of Chancellor at this, the

second public University in Malawi

established in 1997.

It gives me particular pleasure to do so

at this 16thCongregation, where 686

students are graduating, the largest

number of students ever to graduate at

this university.

I congratulate all of you graduands here

before us for your personal

achievements. I know that all of you,5| P a g e


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together with your proud families and

guardians have struggled and workedhard to accomplish what we are

celebrating today. Enjoy this day of

celebration. You deserve it!

It is very gratifying to note that among

the graduands are 27 receiving

postgraduate degrees. Extending

qualifications to postgraduate level and

supporting and benefitting from the

research output that postgraduate

students generate is an important part

of any universitys development. I

commend the University for expanding

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its postgraduate courses and I look

forward to more postgraduate scholarsgraduating from Mzuzu University, and

indeed from all universities in Malawi,

in the future.

In my State of the Nation Address in

parliament in June, I committed myself

to improving education in Malawi, and

to assist the further expansion of

quality Higher Education in this

country. My acceptance of the position

of Chancellor is a manifestation of this

commitment to, and interest in, Higher

Education. As has been mentioned by

others here today, about my personal7| P a g e


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background, having taught at several

universities in both Africa and overseas,and having achieved the rank of an

endowed and chaired Professor, gives

me an understanding and appreciation

of education in general, and Higher

Education in particular.

Honourable guests, Ladies and

Gentlemen

There are several aspects of Higher

Education in this country that must be

addressed if we are to develop, namely:

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Access, Quality, Relevance, and

Management and Good Governance.

Access to higher education still remains

a privilege of a few people in this

country. We must increase the numbers

of students able to access university

education through having more

available places. Sadly, we are amongst

the lowest performing countries in our

region in this regard. We need to

improve, both by expanding enrollment

at existing universities and through the

creation of new universities. It is the

wish of my government that more youth

are enrolled in university as higher9| P a g e


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education is critical to the development

of this country. We need also to ventureinto a wide variety of disciplines, critical

to the development of Malawi. The 686

graduands before us today represent

the future leaders of this country,

whether they be teachers, scientists,

poets, entrepreneurs, lawyers or future

politicians.

The quality of university education

needs also to be critically accessed. A

university degree is of little use to

anybody if the person has not received

quality education. A student needs well

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qualified lecturers, ideally at PhD level,

good library, laboratory and classroomfacilities and decent accommodation to

be able to succeed. Once again, we

must acknowledge that achieving this

level of quality is a challenge to our

universities. Government has recently

established the National Council for

Higher Education. The first challenge of

this new organization is to monitor,

register and accredit universities and

academic programmes to make sure

that no university student, whether at a

private or a public university, has a

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Relevance of education is another key

factor for higher education in Malawi.

We need pogrammes that are

responsive to the development needs of

our country. We need students who can

think critically, clearly and

communicate well and have expertise in

critical areas needed by our country for

development. I note that Mzuzu

University focuses on Education and

Teacher Training, Environmental

Sciences, Health Sciences, Information

Sciences and Tourism and Hospitality

Management. These are all relevant

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areas of study for national development

and I challenge the University to workhand in hand with stakeholders,

including the private sector, to make

sure that the courses they give meet the

needs of students, future employers and

the country as a whole. I also challenge

the University to develop students who

can become entrepreneurs and future

business leaders. We need graduates

who can create jobs as well as occupy

jobs.

I will be failing my duty if I dont put

emphasis on need for good management

and governance in universities.13| P a g e


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Universities must follow the Acts and

statutes under which they operate,develop and fairly administer good

internal policies, procedures and

regulations in a timely manner and be

bastions of integrity. It is essential that

all members of a university, namely

staff and students, follow these internal

procedures and regulations and, above

all, retain a high level of integrity.


Gentlemen

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The challenges facing our universities

and our education system in general,and indeed many other aspects of life in

Malawi, have arisen because, as a

nation, we have limited resources. We

have to find innovative ways of

financing our universities both through

attracting more resources from outside

the country and through finding

additional resources from within the

country, whether this be through public

funds, through fees, or finance from the

private sector. Universities themselves

must play a key role in raising these

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As an example of external finance, myGovernment has recently approved a

loan from the World Bank for a Skills

Development Project that will direct

significant resources to the University of

Malawi, Lilongwe University of

Agriculture and Natural Resources and

Mzuzu University. I am informed that

Mzuzu University will receive around 8

million dollars over four year to increase

access, quality and relevance to

students in its Tourism and Hospitality

faculty and its Open and Distance

Learning programmes. This is a good

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example of how government and

universities can work together withdevelopment partners to access external

resources.

With respect to internal financing we

need to look carefully at how

universities are financed in Malawi. We

need to have a good balance of

resources obtained through subvention,

fees and other sources. This has to be

done in a way that generates improved

income for universities to provide a

good education, while still providing

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One area that can be better utilized tobring resources into Higher Education

is through public private partnership.

My Government is currently reviewing a

proposal to assist public universities to

work with the private sector to build

more and better student

accommodation in our public

universities.


Gentlemen

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I leave my final remarks for the

graduands seated before us and theirfamilies and guardians.

The graduands deserve our

congratulations and the families and

guardians deserve our thanks for their

support.

As you leave here with your

qualifications today you will have to

continue learning and working hard to

succeed in whatever job or career you

take up. Do not take for granted what

you have. You have your certificate,

diploma or degree today because of your19| P a g e


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hard work, but also because of the

support of your family, the dedication ofyour teachers at school and many other

factors, including the taxes paid by the

Malawian people.

Many other equally gifted young people

did not get the opportunity you have

had to study and you owe it to those

people and Malawian society as a whole

to act ethically and responsibly as you

progress in your career and to share

your knowledge with others. I want to

believe that this graduating class has a

change in mindset. I want to see more20| P a g e


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God bless you all and God Bless Malawi

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Speech by Apm on the Occassion of the 16th Congregation of Mzuni

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