$Unique_ID{COW02301} $Pretitle{372} $Title{Malawi Chapter 7B. Higher Education} $Subtitle{} $Author{Harold D. Nelson, Maragita Dobert, Gordon C. McDonald, James McLaughlin, Barbara Marvin, Doanld P. Whitaker} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{school malawi training education university college government secondary teachers schools} $Date{1973} $Log{} Country: Malawi Book: Malawi, A Country Study Author: Harold D. Nelson, Maragita Dobert, Gordon C. McDonald, James McLaughlin, Barbara Marvin, Doanld P. Whitaker Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1973 Chapter 7B. Higher Education During the 1953-63 decade of federation, secondary school graduates wishing to pursue higher education studies had either to attend the University College in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, or go to foreign institutions. By the start of the 1960s educated Malawians were proposing the establishment of a national university and, during his period of detention in 1959 and 1960, Dr. Banda gave impetus to this aim by including the proposed university in overall plans for a future independent Malawi. After attainment of Malawian self-government in 1963, the American Council on Education conducted a survey of educational needs financed by AID. The council's recommendations on establishment of a university were accepted by the government, and enabling legislation, the University of Malawi (Provisional Council) Act, was passed by the Malawian parliament in October 1964. Dr. Banda was named chancellor in December 1964. As initially conceived the university comprised five constituent institutions. Chancellor College, the liberal arts and science college, began operations in fall 1965 at temporary quarters in Blantyre. Already existing Soche Hill College in Blantyre, a teacher training institution established in 1963, became part of the university in January 1967 as did the Polytechnic in Blantyre, built largely with AID funds and opened in 1965. Bunda College of Agriculture, located near Lilongwe in one of the country's main agricultural development areas and also constructed with AID financing, opened in April 1967. The fifth unit, the existing Institute of Public Administration, established in 1962 and then located at Mpemba near Blantyre, became a formal part of the university in January 1967. Construction of a new main campus was begun at Zomba in 1967. In late 1973 Chancellor College, Soche Hill College, and the Institute of Public Administration moved to the new site. The latter two schools were consolidated into Chancellor College as major departments. In mid-1974 the university thus consisted administratively of three main components: Chancellor College, Bunda College of Agriculture, and the Polytechnic. Entrance to the university usually occurred immediately after finishing secondary school and passing the examination for the Malawi Certificate of Education. Mature individuals having adequate backgrounds could also be accepted. The undergraduate degree in arts and sciences from Chancellor College required four years of study. Fifty-six degrees were granted 1970, and the number was expected to exceed eighty by 1975. In education, a diploma was granted to prospective secondary-school teachers after three years of work, and a degree in education could be obtained through an additional two years of study. The college's department of public administration conducted a three-year diploma program, during part of which the student was attached for practical training to district and ministry headquarters. A one-year postgraduate diploma course for civil servants also was offered. A degree was offered in law. The first two years of the five-year law course were spent in general studies in arts and sciences. Bunda College of Agriculture conducted both diploma and degree courses. These were aimed largely at providing staff-level training for employment in either the public or the private sectors. The first graduation from the three-year diploma course was in 1969 when twenty-three individuals passed examinations successfully; in 1971 forty-five diplomas were awarded. Diploma recipients particularly were expected to contribute materially to estate and smallholder agricultural development during the 1970s. The degree course in agriculture was four years in length. The first two years were taken in general studies at Chancellor College and were followed by two years of specialized work. Three degree candidates were graduated in 1971, after which it was anticipated that about twelve degrees would be awarded annually. Most of these graduates were expected to enter government service. The Polytechnic conducts vocational diploma courses designed to turn out individuals trained above the artisan level to meet middle-level manpower needs of business, industry, and the government. In 1973 programs were offered in civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, business studies, public health inspection, laboratory technology, and technical teaching (the diploma in technical teaching was given jointly with Chancellor College's department of education). All diploma courses were of three years' duration and included at least six months of in-service training. They were aimed specifically at meeting needs in Malawi, but standards were sufficiently high to qualify outstanding students for higher level studies at overseas universities and technical institutions. More than eighty diplomas were awarded in 1972. The latest available enrollment figures, published in 1972 and covering the academic year 1971 (September 1970-July 1971), showed about 1,000 degree and diploma students attending the university. At the time over one-third were in Chancellor College (342), and another roughly one-fifth were in what was then Soche Hill College (155) and the Institute of Public Administration (65). About one-quarter of all university students attended the Polytechnic (247), and the remaining one-fifth were in Bunda College of Agriculture (185). A total of 366 postsecondary school students were reportedly accepted for entry to the university's three constituent colleges in school year 1974. Approximately 11 percent (40) of those accepted were women. In school year 1971 the university's academic staff totaled close to 150, of whom about one-third were Malawians. Most senior positions were occupied by expatriates. Although the university also offered graduate degrees (the first doctoral degree was awarded in 1971), most of the individuals needed for the senior professional positions in the country during the remainder of the 1970s and at least until the early 1980s will receive their professional training overseas, according to the nation's economic planners; the cost of developing adequate in-country training facilities was considered prohibitive. No estimate of the numbers expected to study abroad was available; however, during the 1966-70 period well over 400 individuals annually were studying in foreign institutions. Vocational and Technical Education Vocational training was a regular part of early missionary-provided education. Much of this training was of a highly utilitarian nature valuable to immediate mission needs or activities and included carpentry, bricklaying, and nursing. Clerical skills were taught to meet mission requirements; many of these individuals also met the needs of government and of developing business (see ch. 2). Eventually formal mission trade schools were in operation at Livingstonia and Mzuzu in the Northern Region and at Namitete in the Central Region. These three schools were still actively in operation in 1973, providing a three-year course at the upper primary-lower secondary level that combined general education subjects and artisan training in the building trades and rural crafts. A number of other nongovernmental schools had two-year technical and vocational studies that required a primary school leaving certificate for admission. Government entry into the vocational and technical training field at the secondary level occurred in the mid-1950s when the Soche Technical School was established at Blantyre. This was followed by the opening of the Lilongwe Technical School in 1963. In 1973 these schools were offering two-year courses in bricklaying, carpentry, plumbing, and woodworking; vehicle maintenance was also taught at Lilongwe. In 1968 a third vocational school was opened, the Denmark-Malawi Technical Training Center, established with Danish financial and technical assistance. Initially the school, located at Nasawa near Blantyre, offered short courses for the paramilitary Malawi Young Pioneers in house construction, roadbuilding, metalwork, and elementary engineering (see ch. 14). The school, whose operation was turned over fully to the Malawi government in 1973, has been developed into a well-equipped technical center that compared favorably with other Malawian vocational facilities. In 1973 the center was closely associated with the Malawi Young Pioneers Training Base at Nasawa, and most of its approximately eighty students, all of whom held at least a primary school leaving certificate, were graduates of the Malawi Young Pioneers training program. The course of instruction mainly concerned motor vehicle work, but training was also given in the building trades. The Polytechnic in Blantyre also continued to play a major role in vocational and technical training at the secondary level, apart from its functions as part of the University of Malawi. Two- and three-year certificate courses were offered above the junior certificate level, and other certificate work required the Malawi Certificate of Education for acceptance. In the late 1960s the government introduced the four-year Apprenticeship Training Scheme under which an initial year of resident training at a technical school was required. Many of the trainees spent the first year at the Polytechnic, although training could also be taken at the Lilongwe and Soche centers. Thereafter three years were spent in practical on-the-job and formal in-school training. In 1973 apprentices ranged from carpenters, machinists, motor mechanics, and electricians to plumbers, power linemen, printers, and welders. Openings to the program numbered around 300 annually, and over 70 percent of those accepted usually completed their courses satisfactorily. Technical training was also furnished at various schools belonging to departments other than education. These schools included Colby College at Lilongwe, which trained farm extension agents, the Veterinary Training School near Limbe, the Forestry Training School at Chongoni, and the Mpepwe Fisheries Training School near Mangoche. There was also the government Staff Training College at Mpemba, which was established when the Institute of Public Administration became part of the University of Malawi. In late 1973 credit was extended to the Malawi government by the IDA, a member of the World Bank Group (see Glossary), for the construction of the Post and Telecommunications Training Center at Blantyre. This was to be a regional school furnishing instruction for middle-level technicians not only from Malawi but also from Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. A well-organized vocational program outside the formal education system was that conducted at twenty or more training centers of the Malawi Young Pioneers. These centers, operated under the supervision of the Office of the President and Cabinet and located throughout the country, aimed primarily at developing a cadre of young people trained in both leadership and newer agricultural techniques for rural development. The program began in 1963 and from 1964 was assisted by an Israeli mission recruited because of that country's extensive experience with youth organizations in this field. By the mid-1970s about 13,000 young men and a small number of young women had completed the training. It was anticipated that during the latter half of the decade more than 2,000 youths would be trained annually. Teachers and Teacher Training The training of teachers for the primary school system was accomplished at thirteen teacher training colleges that offered two-year certificate courses; there were plans to increase the course to three years in about 1975. Ten of these schools were operated by religious missions helped by government subsidies; one was privately run without aid; and two were government institutions. One of the latter was a new school constructed at Lilongwe using IDA financial assistance; it opened in school year 1972. This school was built on a substantially larger scale than that of the existing institutions in order to minimize costs per student. Its accommodation for 540 residential students was equal to more than one-half of the total enrollment of about 1,000 in the other schools in 1971. The government hoped to construct similar schools in Blantyre and Mzuzu during the late 1970s. A marked expansion of primary education during the early 1960s created a shortage of qualified teachers. At independence in 1964, 40 percent (3,400) of primary school teachers were untrained. The number of trained teachers increased during the rest of the decade, however, and by 1970 more than 7,500 of the some 9,000 primary school teachers, or about 83 percent, had teaching qualifications. Although this represented an improvement, the general educational level of primary school teachers was still considered inadequate. About 80 percent had no more than a primary school education, and most of the remaining 20 percent had completed secondary school only to the junior certificate level. In the early 1970s, however, all applicants accepted for training had at least two years of secondary school, and a considerable number had completed four years. Secondary school teachers were almost entirely expatriate staff in the early 1960s. Beginning in 1963 Malawians were trained at the newly established Soche Hill College, which offered diploma-level course work. In 1967 this school became a component of the University of Malawi, and in 1973 its status was further changed to that of a department of the university's Chancellor College. In 1973 teachers of the first two grades of secondary school took the department's three-year diploma course. A degree course of five years qualified the student to teach the final two years of secondary school and also to fill school administrative positions. In the late 1960s, although more Malawians held secondary teaching posts, almost three-quarters of the approximately 500 secondary teachers continued to be expatriates; most were from the United Kingdom. Until 1968, when they incurred the displeasure of Dr. Banda and were withdrawn, the second largest group of teachers in the secondary schools were United States Peace Corps volunteers (see ch. 10). Small numbers of teachers also came from Canada and France. Although new graduates from secondary teacher training courses would eventually displace many expatriates, the numbers receiving diplomas or degrees was not sufficient in the early 1970s to meet even the expanding requirements caused by the planned raising of the secondary school enrollment level. In 1970 thirty-five of the 145 students in Soche Hill College were awarded diplomas, and diploma and degree graduates thereafter were not expected to exceed fifty annually through the mid-1970s. In 1970, by contrast, the number of secondary teachers increased by almost 140 to 639, from a total of 501 teachers the preceding year. A study in the late 1960s showed that the teaching profession was accorded a high status and was considered both honorable and desirable. This and certain other factors tended to keep a good proportion of the secondary teaching staff from changing jobs. Teachers who had a diploma or a degree were members of the civil service, and their salaries were on a par with those in other government professional positions. They also benefited from participation in the noncontributory government employee pension plan. In 1970 men constituted 74 percent of primary school teachers. The practice of giving boys preference in schooling, especially in a non-compulsory, nonfree education system, and the high status of teaching explained the discrepancy in large part. Data on male-female ratios in secondary and higher education were not available for Malawian teachers. Correspondence Education Planned expansion of the secondary education system during the 1960s was admittedly inadequate to meet the wide demand for places in schools. To afford more opportunities at the secondary level and to provide a facility for advanced study for individuals unable to take leave of their jobs, the government established, in close cooperation with the government of New Zealand, the Malawi Correspondence College, which began operations in 1965. Enrollment in the first year reached almost 1,200 and continued to grow rapidly thereafter. By mid-1968 the number taking courses had risen to more than 12,000, and it was found necessary to limit new enrollments to 3,000 annually. Despite the restriction the total continued to climb, reaching more than 21,500 in 1971, the latest year for which statistics were available in mid-1974. Instruction was in English, except for the Chichewa language course. A wide range of subjects was offered, including courses leading to the junior certificate examination; more than four-fifths of those enrolled in 1971 were working, toward that objective. Also popular was the teacher upgrading program allowing active teachers to improve their status without taking leave. Courses were also offered at the upper primary school level, completion of which qualified the student for examinations for a primary leaving school certificate. Over 3 percent of those enrolled in 1971 were working to complete the four-year secondary school certificate program. The college made considerable use of radio broadcasts and local study groups to assist the correspondence student. When a sufficient number of registered students requested it, correspondence study centers and so-called night secondary schools were organized where the group could study the printed lessons under the supervision of a qualified teacher who was paid by the Ministry of Education. School programs were broadcast regularly and were aimed at these study centers, which numbered eighty-nine in 1971. The government has continued to encourage primary school leavers who are not accepted for places in the regular secondary school system to join existing, or form new, night schools, which often use the regular day school facilities. Literacy The literacy rate in Chichewa was estimated at over 20 percent. The absolute number of people possessing functional literacy in that language was increasing as students completed the first three years of primary education, which was conducted and used instructional materials in Chichewa. At the beginning of the 1970s more than 50,000 young people were enrolled annually in Standard 3, and presumably most completed the year's work. An unknown number of people were literate in English. Although the government emphasized the value of increasing literacy among adults and provided trained staff to supervise literacy programs, the dimension of this effort was limited, among other things, by pragmatic financial considerations. Adult functional literacy was considered particularly important to an increase in agricultural production, as it enabled farmers to refer to and follow the instructions contained in pamphlets distributed by the farm extension service. The number of adults who had complete literacy courses, which lasted usually six months or longer, was not known. Announcements of group completions, however, indicated that the annual total in the early 1970s was running in the thousands; for instance, a report in late 1973 stated that almost 1,200 people were then attending literacy classes in Zomba alone. Women made up a considerable proportion of those taking literacy courses. Education of the Handicapped Special education efforts for the handicapped centered mainly on the blind and the deaf and mute. At independence Malawi had two residential schools exclusively for blind children and one training center for more mature blind people. In 1965 a so-called open education system for blind children was introduced in which handicapped children were taught in existing facilities by special teachers. In 1966 ten schools participated in the program, mainly in the southern part of the country. The program has been expanded, but the number of centers and students was not available in 1974. In 1974 a school for the deaf was conducted at the mission-operated Montfort College. An institute for the adult deaf was also in operation at Mulanje. Cultural Life Scholarship and Intellectual Activity The first degrees in higher education in Malawi were awarded in 1968 (see Education, this ch.). At the start of the 1970s the country's intellectual community probably numbered fewer than 2,000 individuals including several hundred expatriates, those Malawians who had graduated from institutions of higher learning in foreign countries, and recent degree and diploma recipients in Malawi. During the decade a substantial increase in the size of the community could be anticipated, however, swelled by increasing numbers of graduates from the University of Malawi (in 1973 almost 200 persons received degrees, diplomas, or certificates) and by the return of students from overseas studies. Research covered a wide field but engaged only a small number of people. It was conducted mainly by government bodies, by members of the faculty of the University of Malawi and, to a limited extent, by private organizations. The Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources operated a number of research stations that were concerned with such matters as agronomy, plant breeding and pathology, soil physics and chemistry, cattle breeding and other veterinary research, fisheries research, and food storage technology. The statutory Agricultural Research Council of Malawi, established in 1967, engaged in agricultural, forestry, veterinary, hydrology, and tsetse fly research. Other government bodies doing research were the Geological Survey of Malawi and the Malawi Forestry Research Institute. The various government units had a combined total of about sixty-five researchers and 130 technicians at the start of the 1970s. About one-half (sixty-five to seventy-five members) of the teaching staff of the University of Malawi was reportedly also engaged in research, chiefly in the natural sciences. The university effort included an interdisciplinary research team conducting the Lake Chilwa Coordinated Research Project. This project, established in 1966, was undertaking a broad investigation of lake Chilwa and the surrounding area. The principal privately sponsored research was conducted by the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa, established in 1966. This autonomous body had a research staff of about twenty members and a rather substantial library of 10,000 volumes. The opportunity to publish the results of scholarly studies was extremely limited. Research papers were published by several government organizations and by the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa. The learned Society of Malawi, founded in 1948 and having a membership of about 500, published the Society of Malawi Journal twice a year. Many of the articles contained in the journal, however, were written by expatriates. Occasionally an article by a Malawian author was accepted by a foreign publication. Library Facilities Free library facilities were available to the general public through library centers set up in all three regions by the National Library Service, which was established by the National Library Service Act in 1967 and began lending operations in December 1968. The headquarters of the service was in Blantyre, but eventually it was to move to the new capital-designate of Lilongwe. The centers, which numbered over ninety at the beginning of 1973, were operated chiefly under the supervision of local community centers and schools, although in some areas clubs and churches had the responsibility. The service's book collection numbered over 80,000 volumes and included adult and junior fiction, a considerable range of nonfiction, and reference works. Book stocks at the various centers were exchanged every three months. In addition, the Postal Loan Service dispatched books by mail to students and to persons unable to use the local centers. This service also was intended in part to meet requests that could not be filled by a local library. One of the postal service's chief uses was as a supplementary aid to students taking Malawi Correspondence College courses. At the start of 1973 more than 900 volumes were sent by mail monthly, and the number was growing rapidly. Available also for public use was the reference section of the library of the National Archives of Malawi in Zomba, which had a valuable collection of materials on East and Central Africa. The archives began as the colonial government repository in 1947, and during the federal period (1953 through 1963) acted as a regional archives for the National Archives of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. Upon dissolution of the federation it was established as the Malawian National Archives. Malawian government laws required that a copy of all material published in the country be deposited in the archives. Additionally, the library received a considerable number of periodicals from outside the country and acquired various publications from neighboring states through exchange. The largest library in the country was that of the University of Malawi. It had well over 140,000 volumes in its central collection and the branch libraries of its various divisions and major departments. Use was limited to members of the university, but books were also lent to the National Library Service. Arrangements existed for the student body and staff to secure books and other published materials from the University of Rhodesia, the National Free Library of Rhodesia, and the State Library in Pretoria, South Africa. Several foreign organizations had reading rooms or libraries open free to the public. They included British Council libraries in Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Zomba, which were stocked chiefly with educational materials, as well as British newspapers and periodicals. Loans could also be made through the postal services. The United States Information Service maintained a library in Blantyre that carried American books, newspapers, and periodicals. Loans were made to residents of Blantyre. In addition, the British High Commission had a reference library and reading room in Blantyre, and the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) had a small reading room in Limbe containing West German periodicals and newspapers. Folk and Contemporary Literature Rich oral traditions exist in Malawi that are exemplified in the extensive accounts of the migration of the Maravi people and the battles fought with earlier inhabitants of the region (see ch. 2). Extensive oral clan histories also exist among the Chewa, Tumbuka, Ngoni, and other ethnic groups, some of which have been recorded in English. This oral tradition has tended to exert a strong influence, channeling much creative activity toward production of materials for radio broadcasting rather than developing a written literature. The modern literary tradition started late in Malawi in comparison to other former British colonial areas. Samuel Yosia Ntara's biographical Man of Africa appeared in 1934, and his autobiographical novel Headman's Enterprise, written in Chichewa and translated into English, was published in 1949. Malawi's first modern work, however, was generally considered to be Legson Kayira's autobiographical I Will Try, in English, which was published in 1965; it won an American nonfiction award the following year. Subsequently Kayira wrote three English novels, The Looming Shadow, published in New York in 1967, and Jingala and The Civil Servant, published in Great Britain in 1968 and 1971, respectively. Other recent authors of note were Audrey Kachingwe, who wrote No Easy Task (1966), and David Rubadiri, whose novel No Bride Price appeared in 1967; both these works were also written in English. The demand for vernacular literature was strong, and a number of works had attained considerable popularity, although in some cases sales were mainly to schools. As of the early 1970s, however, Malawian writers of note had all earned their reputations overseas, and no novelist of stature had emerged in the country. One problem in the development of a domestic literature was the lack of a regular national literary publication until the 1970s. Although University of Malawi members published the literary Expression and the poetry anthology Mau, both were restricted to university authors; and only in the early 1970s did the informal Writers' Group of Malawi begin publishing Odi, a quarterly that accepted contributions not only in English but also in Chichewa from university and nonuniversity sources. It was hoped the possibility of publication would encourage new writers and help develop a literary tradition. Very little drama had been written for the stage by Malawians; most drama has been performed by expatriate groups. The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) encouraged drama writing, however, by frequently using locally written plays and also encouraged poets by broadcasting their poems. Malawian poets were not known internationally with the possible exception of Rubadiri, whose poetry and anthologies have been published abroad. Literary writing tended to deal with situations and conflicts found in the family or the village, exhibiting little if any of the racial character of much African and white writing in South Africa. There was, however, a similarity in interest with other writers throughout Black Africa in the effect of urban life upon the rural community. The conflict within the urban centers appeared of less concern than the effect urban values might have on the traditional village culture. Few, if any, literary efforts dealt with political ideologies.