Unima to open campus in Mz

University of Malawi (Unima) has unveiled plans to extend its constituent college of the Polytechnic  to Mzuzu by next year in a bid to increase access to tertiary education in Malawi.

Mzuzu is the only city that does not have Unima structures. People from the Northern Region have to travel hundreds of kilometres to access unima facilities in other regions.

The University has since procured land at Luwinga  in Mzuzu where it intends to build a state of the art Continuing Education Centre (CEC)

Speaking during handover ceremony of the piece of land on Friday Unima vice chancellor Professor John Saka said Unima wants to improve access to tertiary education. He said access to tertiary education now stands at 0.4% which is very low.

He said Unima wants to promote satelite centres where people can access education

Saka added that the  centre for continuing education in Mzuzu will benefit a lot people from North.

According to Saka, the University spent about K130million to procure about 13 hactares of land where the facility will sit.

“We have come up with the designs and soon we will be doing costing of the project.

“However to ensure that we start operations as soon as possible, we will utilise the infrastructure that is already on the ground. We want to promote quality education and we will put all things in place to ensure that the institution is a credited, ” said Malunga.

Mzuzu City deputy mayor Frazer Chunga said the facility apart from promoting access to education, will help create employment.

He said the facility will also attract people to build houses around the area which will in turn expand Mzuzu City Council revenue collection base.