Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0230/02301.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 31KB | 509 lines

$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