Minister of Higher Education Jessie Kabwila has announced plans for Malawi to have a university focusing on mining to develop local skills in the field and reduce dependence on foreign expertise.
Speaking in Dowa on Wednesday during a consultative meeting on the university, the minister said the tertiary institution will facilitate skills development for the country’s blossoming mining sector.
Kabwila said when Malawi starts producing specialised technical people in mining, it will be easier to exploit and realise good returns from the mining sector that is growing in the country.
She said: “As a country, we want to ensure that we are not reactive and we are not exploited by others, especially when new opportunities have been discovered.”
In his remarks, Malawi Universities Development Programme Public Universities Working Committee chairperson for academic affairs Happy Kayuni said although there are universities in the country offering mining modules, there is still need to establish a standalone university which will focus on developments in the mining sector.
He said Malawi has for many years lagged behind in this area, and the new university would fill this gap.
Said Kayuni: “The bachelor’s degrees will be pitched at honours level which will cover five years, but we will not wait up to the end of the programme for the country to benefit from those who will be training in the university since there will be levels of training such as certificate, diploma and so on at which point those could acquire a certain level of knowledge useful in the sector.”
Mining currently contributes one percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but between 2010 and 2013, mining contributed up to 10.9 percent of the GDP due to activities at the Kayelekera Uranium Mine in the Northern Region.
Besides uranium, there is also potential for rutile at Kasiya in Lilongwe and other precious stones in various sites that can make significant contributions towards the economy.
Government came up with the Agriculture, Mining and Tourism strategy as priority sectors in its quest to realise the country’s development goals.
