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University of Malawi (Unima) Fashion and Designing Department head Catherine Makhumula Mtimuni says the country’s economy needs people who are not just employable, but with skills they can monetise.

She said this on Thursday at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre on the sidelines of a media workshop hosted by Unima’s School of Arts, Communication and Design, which focused on the newly introduced six arts degree programmes under the department.

Mtimuni said students and parents need to recognise that things that worked before are no longer working in the current economic, social and cultural environment; hence, mindset change will be key.

She said: “Before, if you had a university degree, it meant that you would get employed and the Unima, as the oldest institution for higher learning in Malawi, was created specifically for that. People that graduated at the beginning were guaranteed jobs.

“This is where you begin to realise that our School of Arts, Communication and Design is at an advantage for providing such kinds of skills. The skills that our students will learn in fashion design, music, drama and fine arts are skills that will not only make them employable, but also make them entrepreneurial.”

Mtimuni, who is also head of Theatre and Drama Studies Department, said the six new programmes are set up in such a way that their students will be introduced to entrepreneurship from the first year all the way to the fourth year.

She said the creative industry has missed out a lot because of lack of specialisation in the past 40 years as some skilled personnel have ended up in other fields  

Mtimuni said: “We did a tracer study with our students. We discovered that a good part of them are passionate about drama, but because they have an idea that they need to find a job, they found themselves outside the creative industry regardless of their good skills.” 

Dean of the school Mufunanji Magalasi said the success of their programmes will depend on how entrepreneurial the students that we will produce will be. He said at the moment most artists wait to be hired or employed, rather than creating artistic businesses.

He said: “In our teaching half will be theory and the other part will be practical work. The students will be attached to creative art businesses locally or internationally so they are able to see how these things are run.”