University of Malawi delinking finally accomplished
The delinking of Malawi’s oldest institution of higher learning, the University of Malawi, into three separate universities has been accomplished, 11 years after former president Bingu wa Mutharika mooted the idea to the university council in 2009.
Mutharika only managed to delink or unbundle Bunda College in 2011 to create Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) before his death in 2012 and his successor, president Joyce Banda, shelved the process.
But another past-president, Peter Mutharika, who succeeded Banda, rekindled the idea, which the current administration, under President Lazarus Chakwera, has now concluded.
The Malawi Ministry of Education has gazetted 4 May 2021 to be the commencement date for Acts of Parliament Nos 18, 19 and 20 of 2019, that established the three new universities, namely: a reconstituted University of Malawi (UNIMA), the Malawi University of Business and Applied Scienc