Universities move to to popularise MW2063 

University of Malawi (Unima) vice-chancellor Professor Samson Sajidu says local universities have the mandate to popularise Malawi 2063 (MW2063) enablers to enable the country to achieve sustainable development.

He said this on Wednesday in Zomba at the end of the universities vice-chancellors workshop comprising University of Livingstonia, Mzuzu University, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi University of Science and Technology, Catholic University of Malawi and Unima.

Sajidu said the workshop was one of the first of a series of meetings that vice-chancellors of universities will be engaged in to discuss how they can work together and ensure that the academia sets a solid foundation to  achieve the long-term development plan.

“By the end of this workshop, the vice-chancellors have agreed to embed some of the aspects of Malawi 2063 in our curricular as well as contribute to all the seven enablers through research,” he said.

Unima dean of social science Professor Happy Kayuni said the academia have a critical role to play in the implementation of the MW2063, recalling that in  the Vision 2020, the academia was not actively involved.

“The academia needs to play a critical role which, among other things, is to be conducting researches that will be responding to the contents of the Malawi 2063,” he said.

National Planning Commission research manager Andrew Jamali said during Vision 2020 implementation, there was poor coordination on the role of universities.

“The academia has the potential to foresee the future of the country through research,” he said.

The workshop was hosted by Unima Research Department with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund.