Malawi President Joyce Banda has asked the private sector to support institutions that provide tertiary education in the country.
The President said this in Ntcheu on Sunday when she presided over the fifth graduation ceremony of the Malawi Adventist University where she presented degrees and diplomas to 126 graduates.
She said: “The corporate world can assist in improving access to tertiary education through, among other things, providing students’ accommodation, sponsoring students and client driven courses, teaching and learning blocks.”
The President said Malawi’s tertiary education is facing a lot of challenges, citing among others, poorly equipped universities, limited students’ accommodation which she said in the long run contribute to low students’ enrolment, thereby impacting negatively on access to tertiary education.
Banda said government established the National Council for Higher Education as an advisory body to government on education policies in a bid to address the challenges which are being faced by both public and private universities.
Earlier, Chancellor of the Malawi Adventist University Professor Fraxon Kuyama said it is the university’s wish to become a chartered university and that discussions on the same are underway with Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
Kuyama asked government to extend the education loan scheme to needy students in private universities, saying doing so would contribute towards improving access to higher education in the country.
The Malawi Adventist University is affiliated to the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton and it was accreded as an institution for higher learning in 2009.
