Mzuni freezes out students

One aspect of the ailment of the Malawi education system was revealed by the announcement by Mzuzu University o (MZUNI) that it would not be admitting students for its courses (optometry) generic and bachelor of science (information and communication technology):  READ HERE. The proximate cause for this decision was lack of teachers which in the case of optometry seems to be due to the fact that the only professor in the subject had been elected to the parliament. MZUNI can also  be blamed for initiating courses without much contingency planning.

There is, however, a deeper problem involving a gross misallocation of recourses. Malawi is among African countries with the highest unit cost per student in the tertiary education (See Table Below).  As things stand, we would be better off sending our students to some of neighboring countries. If we sent all our students to Zimbabwe or Nigeria, we would have thrice as many Malawian in tertiary education as we have today. This being a politically implausible solution, the comparison suggests we can do more to lower the costs. One immediate measure we can adopt is stop providing accomodation for third and fourth year students. They will have lived long enough in the town they go to school to find accomodation on their own and it will be a good entry point into the real life they are likely to confront after graduation.

 

Our system of education is inefficient  in the extreme and must be overhauled. We are simply spending too much for the little we are getting. It is unlikely that universities will reform themselves without external pressure from elected bodies.

 

 

Country	US$
Benin	864
Burkina Faso	3,192
Burundi	5,893
Cameroon	864
Central African Republic	864
Chad	1,584
Congo, Dem. Rep of	286
Congo, Rep. of	1,900
Côte d’Ivoire	957
Eritrea	860
Ethiopia	2,016
Gambia, The	1,102
Ghana	1,924
Guinea	615
Kenya	1,508
Lesotho	7,742
Madagascar	588
Malawi	2,533
Mali	836
Mauritania	666
Mozambique	2,244
Niger	1,482
Nigeria	704
Rwanda	1,975
Senegal	2,100
Sierra Leone	816
Sudan	891
Tanzania	1,855
Togo	455
Uganda	570
Zambia	1,827
Zimbabwe	782