Malawi low public university  intake worries ‘varsity officials

Officials from the University of Malawi say they want to improve infrastructures in public universities to improve students’ intake.

Renowned linguist and lecturer Professor Al Mtenje, who is also the University of Malawi (Unima) pro-vice chancellor said this at Polytechnic in Blantyre on Tuesday during the launch of Public Sector Investment Program.

Mtenje, who is a Chichewa language expert,said Malawi has the lowest student intake in the Sadc region.

“This issue of low student intake into the public universities will be addressed through construction of new infrastructures and rehabilitation of new infrastructures,” said Mtenje.

He said increasing student intake in the University of Malawi would help make Malawi a dominantly importing nation to a dominantly exporting nation.

According to 2017 statistics, out of 18, 000 qualified students, only 4,700 were selected to public universities because of limited space.