Peter Mutharika urges colleges to be competitive
President Peter Mutharika, who is also Chancellor of the University of Malawi (Unima), has called on Kamuzu College of Nursing, College of Medicine, Chancellor College and The Polytechnic to cultivate a culture of competitiveness.
Mutharika made the remarks Friday in Zomba during the fifth cohort of the 2017/2018 Unima graduation ceremony.
Mutharika said the graduation was the last for Unima as it has always been known.
“Over four years ago, we made a new testament. We agreed that the university cannot continue to be the same way as it has always been. As a university, we made a decision to delink the colleges and make them universities, now it time for us to assume serious responsibilities over our decision.
“We must be ready for change. I want to see the colleges become universities, our goal is to create more university space for Malawians. We want to cultivate a culture of competitiveness in our public universities. We want to see growth and variety in university education, therefore every university must find its identity,” he said.
Mutharika also called on the graduating students to think outside the box and not just rely on waiting to be employed.
“I urge you to go forward with determination, dream big, think big and act decisively, the future belongs to those who believe in their beauty of dreams. Your future is right here in your hands. You shape your future with the decisions you make right here.
“Remember what matters most is what you do from here, it is not what your degree will do for you, what matters is what you do with your degree. We come to the university to see the wisdom of learning,” he said.
Unima Pro Vice-Chancellor Alfred Mtenje cited a number of growth indicators the university has so far achieved.
“We have grown in a number of aspects in a drive to deliver successful education and that we must meet international standards so that, as the university, we improve on our ranking,” Mtenje said.
During the graduation, 225 students graduated from all the four constituent colleges of Unima.
In March 2019, Parliament passed three bills on delinking of Unima as standalone universities.
The delinking of the three colleges is the second after Bunda College of Agriculture was delinked from the university in 2011 which merged with Natural Resources College to form Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
