President Lazarus Chakwera has advised Mzuzu University (Mzuni) graduates to have a positive attitude and mindset as conducting themselves differently could render their education useless.
He made the appeal on Thursday in Mzuzu when he presided over Mzuni’s 27th graduation where 2 326 students have been scheduled to receive diplomas and degrees in two sessions from Thursday to today.
Chakwera said the eight worst attitudes which need to be overcome are self-absorption, condescension, reluctance, rudeness, stubbornness, pessimism, pettiness and self-pity.
He said while a good education has the power to open doors, it is one’s attitude that determines how far they will go.
Said the President: “No matter what skills you have acquired through your education, no one will want to be around you if they see in you the attitude of caring about no one but yourself.
“Or if you show up with the attitude of condescension, where you look down on others and talk down about them, your education will soon become useless there.”
Mzuni Vice-Chancellor Professor Wales Singini commended Chakwera for abolishing the quota system and supporting Mzuni’s infrastructure development, citing the ongoing construction of a new library.
He, however, implored government to up its game on appointments and promotions of officers that have upgraded their studies.
Singini said the university is doing well on research after establishing centres such as the African Centre of Excellence in Neglected and Underutilised Biodiversity.
He said: “It is a centre that we have established first with funding from the World Bank. And we have a lot of researchers and post-graduate students doing research and we have promoted multidisciplinary work and output has gone high.”
Present during the graduation were Minister of Higher Education Jessie Kabwila, Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara and Inkosi ya Makhosi M’Mbelwa V among other high profile figures.
During the congregation, Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule was conferred a doctor of philosophy (PhD) in transformative community development after her successful defence last month.
Writing on her Facebook page, she said: “Defending a PhD is not just defending research. It is defending your dreams, your sanity, and your right to put ‘Dr.’ in front of your name without flinching. And today, I do that with pride, joy, a deep sense of humility and a breath of relief.”
Mzuni was established in 1997 as the country’s second public university to provide higher learning and research. It enrolled its first students in 1999.
