MUST closed indefinitely

Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must) has been closed indefinitely following protests that students held at its Ndata Campus in Thyolo on Monday.

According to a notice by the college registrar Alfred Chinombo issued yesterday, the decision was arrived at when the university’s council met on Tuesday where they resolved to close the institution indefinitely.

Reads the notice in part: “This decision has been made to ensure the safety of staff and students following the illegal student protests that disrupted scheduled examinations and resulted in staff harassment.”

The notice yesterday indicated that students will be communicated to on the new opening dates, including conditions for the same.

Our efforts to speak to the students’ union president James Kalawa yesterday proved futile as he could not be reached on his known mobile number.

But Must communications manager James Mphande said what prompted the students to hold protests was a decision by management to enforce one of its regulations that those with outstanding fees balances will not sit for examinations.

He said students and parents were told of the regulation in January.

According to Mphande, the students only approached management to negotiate that those who have paid at least 75 percent should be allowed to write the examinations and those who are really needy should go to the office of the director of student affairs to present their grievances.

He said: “Depending on the office’s assessment, it was allowed to recommend to management needy students who could be exempted and be allowed to sit for the examinations.

“Everything looked settled until Monday when some disgruntled students disrupted the examinations and harassed fellow students and invigilators.”

The students were given up until 6pm yesterday to vacate the campus.

The college is one of the public universities and was established on December 17 2012. The institution officially opened its doors in March 2014.