‘Unima unbundling to enhance education growth’
Chief technical director of the Public Sector Reforms in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) Seodi White, has described the unbundling of University of Malawi (Unima) as significant in enhancing educational growth.
Her remarks also echo what education activists have been advocating regarding the restructuring of Unima which they say will bring sanity in higher education.
Delivering her keynote address on Friday at College of Medicine’s (CoM) 21st Research Dissemination Conference, White said the restructuring of Unima will resolve long-standing issues that have been affecting the university such as remuneration and academic calendar interruptions.
She said: “The unbundling, delinking, restructuring of Unima will automatically decrease the number of public universities in the country and enhance growth of the education sector, independence on the part of the universities and increase competition.
“In delinking Unima, government expects high standards of academic leadership, financial independence, strong and world-class research, world class academia.”
Early this month, President Peter Mutharika also appointed members of a reconstituted task force to oversee the delinking process after the endorsement of the Unima Council in August to delink College of Medicine (CoM), Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) and The Polytechnic from the university.
The delinking of the three colleges follows that of Bunda College of Agriculture which was delinked from Unima in 2011 to merge with Natural Resources College and form what is now known as Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources College (Luanar).
Proponents of the Unima split argue that the university has grown and it was becoming difficult for authorities to effectively manage its affairs from the university in Zomba.
