The Trip 2 May – Chris’s log – 21/47
Today is our last day with the RC of Lilongwe. We start the day with Fran and Jodie going to the SOS
school (Nursery through to secondary education + options for the disabled) and Greg, Ryan and Chris visiting the University of Malawi’s Bunda College (Agricultural College). It is interesting for us all, Greg talk to the people in the crop dept, Ryan in the Ag engineering dept and me to the Assistant Registrar after we all spoke to the Vice principal.
When you consider the method that education and the economy is working, they have progressed a long way in the 2000’s. There are many similar issues, ranging from reducing income from the government (currently they are nearly 100% funded by them) recruiting staff and community welfare issues. So far, I have seen that a lot of institution rely on donations from international organisations, whether new or hand me downs. I am also surprised by the huge student to staff numbers. 700 students to 300 staff. This is based off the equivalent of $200 income per student from the government for each student per annum. They have introduced full fee places which are about $1,000 per annum. To put this into perspective, the gardeners are paid about $10 a week, and the Registrar and senior staff about $2000 a month.
The facilities are aging, but fairly good. The systems are predominantly electronic, however they are college (campus) based rather than across the entire institution. (Enrolment across the University of Malawi is somewhere between 5,000 to 6,000). It is interesting that the major issues that the Bunda campus is that it is 30km out of town, which means that staff either have to travel, or live on campus. Staff complain about having to attend meetings on other campuses (Reminds me of the issues I had when working at Gatton).
They have plans to improve efficiency, however it is difficult in a social sense as the logical way is to reduce staff numbers. In an environment where there is high unemployment in the area, this will have a massive effect in the local area, with no government safety net.
After a lovely home cooked lunch we went to the Natural Resources College. This college offers study up to what we would know as Associate Diploma or Associate Bachelor programs. It is more applied. The difference is that this institution only offers full fee programs. As a result it is significantly more business focused, with it offering its facilities as a conference centre, an operational farm (that makes a profit) and a number of other small money makers. It has 1300 students and 100 staff (with some services outsourced)
The college was originally built by the Canadian government, and was built with Canadian’s overseeing the work. To be honest, it is one of the best public buildings that I have seen, and they are all over 20 years old.
We view both the animal area (but not the piggery as we could cause disease) and the irrigation fields. After this visit we are moved to the hotel. I have enjoyed my time at Lincoln and Evelyn’s house, and from the little time learn a lot about and understand a lot better business operations in Malawi.
Today is our last day with the RC of Lilongwe. We start the day with Fran and Jodie going to the SOS
school (Nursery through to secondary education + options for the disabled) and Greg, Ryan and Chris visiting the University of Malawi’s Bunda College (Agricultural College). It is interesting for us all, Greg talk to the people in the crop dept, Ryan in the Ag engineering dept and me to the Assistant Registrar after we all spoke to the Vice principal.When you consider the method that education and the economy is working, they have progressed a long way in the 2000’s. There are many similar issues, ranging from reducing income from the government (currently they are nearly 100% funded by them) recruiting staff and community welfare issues. So far, I have seen that a lot of institution rely on donations from international organisations, whether new or hand me downs. I am also surprised by the huge student to staff numbers. 700 students to 300 staff. This is based off the equivalent of $200 income per student from the government for each student per annum. They have introduced full fee places which are about $1,000 per annum. To put this into perspective, the gardeners are paid about $10 a week, and the Registrar and senior staff about $2000 a month.
The facilities are aging, but fairly good. The systems are predominantly electronic, however they are college (campus) based rather than across the entire institution. (Enrolment across the University of Malawi is somewhere between 5,000 to 6,000). It is interesting that the major issues that the Bunda campus is that it is 30km out of town, which means that staff either have to travel, or live on campus. Staff complain about having to attend meetings on other campuses (Reminds me of the issues I had when working at Gatton).
They have plans to improve efficiency, however it is difficult in a social sense as the logical way is to reduce staff numbers. In an environment where there is high unemployment in the area, this will have a massive effect in the local area, with no government safety net.
After a lovely home cooked lunch we went to the Natural Resources College. This college offers study up to what we would know as Associate Diploma or Associate Bachelor programs. It is more applied. The difference is that this institution only offers full fee programs. As a result it is significantly more business focused, with it offering its facilities as a conference centre, an operational farm (that makes a profit) and a number of other small money makers. It has 1300 students and 100 staff (with some services outsourced)
The college was originally built by the Canadian government, and was built with Canadian’s overseeing the work. To be honest, it is one of the best public buildings that I have seen, and they are all over 20 years old.
We view both the animal area (but not the piggery as we could cause disease) and the irrigation fields. After this visit we are moved to the hotel. I have enjoyed my time at Lincoln and Evelyn’s house, and from the little time learn a lot about and understand a lot better business operations in Malawi.
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