By Clever Mwale:
As lecture halls fill beyond capacity due to rising student enrolment, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) is increasingly turning to digital learning as a way to ease pressure on its physical teaching spaces.
The university said this on Friday in Lilongwe after Standard Bank plc donated four Dell PowerEdge servers valued at K32 million to strengthen its information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure.
Kuhes Executive Dean for the School of Nursing, Genesis Cholwe, said the servers will support the university’s transition by improving access to digital learning materials and enabling some programmes to be delivered online.
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“We seek to modernise our teaching and learning environment so that we are able to run some of our programmes online and allow students to access teaching and learning materials from our digital learning management platform,” Cholwe said.
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He added that the rising student population, including more than 1,200 first-year students admitted through a double intake, has intensified the need for technology-driven learning solutions.
Cholwe said Kuhes plans to introduce smart classrooms that will support hybrid learning, allowing some students to attend lectures physically while others participate virtually in real time.
He added that the university is also working with the Malawi Defence Force to train and certify military medical personnel in battlefield medical care to internationally recognised standards, a programme that requires stronger digital systems.
Standard Bank Chief Information Officer, Alvin Alfonso, said the support forms part of the bank’s sustainability agenda aimed at helping institutions that contribute to Malawi’s development.
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“Universities are at the heart of producing skilled professionals who will drive the nation’s progress. They require reliable and modern technology to support effective teaching, learning, research and administration,” Alfonso said.
He added that the bank’s support goes beyond equipment aid as it also plans to help Kuhes develop systems for monitoring its ICT infrastructure across multiple campuses.
Digital learning is increasingly becoming a defining feature of higher education as institutions adapt to rising enrolment, limited physical infrastructure and the need for more flexible teaching methods.
