Ministry, partners discuss Higher Education Bill
Ministry of Education has called for the streamlining of roles and processes to minimise cases of double accreditation which is a duplication of efforts.
The ministry’s director of Higher Education Levis Eneya said this in Lilongwe last week at the opening of a stakeholder meeting of regulatory bodies held to discuss and contribute to the ongoing development of the Higher Education Bill (HEB).

He acknowledged the critical role of regulatory bodies in maintaining quality higher education standards, emphasising the need to enhance the regulation of higher education and address concerns such as the duplication of accreditation.
Said Eneya: “The Bill offers an opportunity to clearly define responsibilities, reducing confusion among higher education institutions and ensuring alignment with the mandates of professional bodies.”
Taking her turn, National Council for Higher Education (Nche) chief executive officer Ambumulire Phiri highlighted the importance of collaboration and stakeholder contributions to the Bill.
She reaffirmed Nche’s commitment to ensuring the Bill addresses stakeholder concerns while improving service delivery in the higher education sector.
Said Phiri: “Nche has successfully collaborated with professional bodies in various programmes, such as in the joint assessments for legal education programmes. There is a need for explicit guidelines in the Bill to delineate responsibilities for regulating different academic programmes, which will ensure efficiency and clarity.”
Delegates to the meeting included representatives from the Teachers Council of Malawi, the Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority, the Medical Council of Malawi, and the Malawi Institute of Engineers, Nche, the Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board and the Directorate of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education.
The meeting was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) through the Transforming Higher Education Systems Project.
USAid representative Mary Chitsulo hailed the collaborative approach, highlighting the importance of understanding operational dynamics to streamline registration and accreditation processes in the country’s higher education sub-sector.