Employers, change your mindset
For over 35 years since Malawi became independent, Malawians have known one public university–University of Malawi (Unima) comprising Chancellor College, the Polytechnic, Bunda College of Agriculture, Kamuzu College of Nursing and College of Medicine. Apart from Unima, there has been Malawi College of Accountancy (MCA).
The largest employer in the country is the civil service through government ministries, departments and parastatals. This is followed by the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). All along, when recruiting, employers have mostly considered candidates from Unima and in very few cases those, from private tertiary institutions.
Fortunately, since the advent of multiparty democracy in 1994, the education sector has opened up to private institutions of higher learning. The country has witnessed the establishment of Mzuzu University (Mzuni) as the second public university and a number of private universities such as Share World, African Bible College, Exploits University, Catholic University and University of Livingstonia, among others.
In addition, now that we are in the digital age, Malawi is adapting to the global trend where we are seeing online programmes on the rise.
The delinking of Bunda College of Agriculture from Unima to form Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) is another good development that has shown the direction Malawi should have taken many years back. Luanar is on an expansion phase and one can see that it will soon not just be a large university, but also more advanced in terms of organisation.
In recent years we have seen the opening of the magnificent Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must), a university specifically focusing on science and technology studies.
Until 2013, an Accreditation Committee in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) had the mandate to regulate institutions of higher learning in the country. Now, we have National Council for Higher Education (Nche), a respectable institution with the mandate to regulate and provide quality assurance services in higher institutions. Nche was established by an Act of Parliament No. 15 of 2011. The council is already on top of its role and it is evident that the regulatory body means business. From a distance, however, Nche needs to increase its capacity if it is to function to optimum levels. The work of Nche will make a huge contribution to the raising of educational standards in the country and at the same time for Malawian universities to improve on international university rankings.
Unima can be described as the mother of all universities in the country today. It is an open secret that every university, be it public or private, will always aim at matching or out-doing Unima. The reason being that Unima, being the parent university in the country, is deep-rooted in employers’ mindsets.
For a long time employers whether from the civil service, private sector and NGOs had their mindsets fixed on Unima. As a result, candidates possessing Unima qualifications stood a better chance of being offered employment than candidates from private institutions. In fact, this mindset still reigns today in most companies and organisations.
But this should not be the case. As long as a prospective candidate studied with an institution accredited by Nche, he or she must be given equal chance for consideration of a job opening. My appeal through the Institute for People Management in Malawi is that employers need a mindset shift when recruiting.
It is the objective of every employer to employ knowledgeable, talented individuals whose creativity and imagination will support and contribute to achieving the organisation’s objectives. It is, therefore, high time employers considered candidates based on their dynamic capability and potential as opposed to looking at which institution a candidate went for their studies. n
