Chinese Ambassador Lu Xu on Friday handed over to Malawi a $6.4 million (slightly above K11 billion) Confucius Institute.
Erected in the campus of Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) in Lilongwe, the facility comprises an administration block, lecture rooms, laboratories, hostels, a multipurpose hall and a multipurpose sports court. Four brand new vehicles were also part of the donation.
Receiving the facility, Minister of Higher Education Jessie Kabwila said the institute is a window for Malawi’s growth and bilateral relations with China as it is earmarked for the teaching of Chinese and culture.
“Our students will have an opportunity to learn Chinese language and culture and that means it will be easy for them to go to China and learn different technologies to improve innovations in our universities,” she said.
Kabwila explained that when two countries share language and culture, their cooperation becomes stronger leading to both industry and trade growth.
She urged Malawians to utilise the facility.
The ambassador echoed Kabwila’s views that the strength of cooperation between two countries lies in the values of the people manifested in language and culture sharing.
“It helps in many ways when two countries understand each other’s language and culture, even sharing of ideas in terms of technology, medicines, infrastructure development and governance becomes easy,” she said.
KUHeS deputy Vice-Chancelor Belinda Gombachika said infrastructure such as the Confucius Institute promotesdiversity of knowledge and skills in students.
“Our country needs multitasking graduates who can understand how other countries use their natural resources to develop. Our country is blessed with natural resources so we need human resource to transform those resources into development,” she said.
University of Malawi (UNIMA) deputy Vice-Chancellor Sunduzwayo Madise also emphasized the importance of utilising opportunities of learning from others who have excelled.
Apart from education, China has helped Malawi in other sectors such as infrastructure development, agricultural technologies, health and human capital development through scholarships.
