President Dr Lazarus Chakwera, who is also Chancellor of MUST, yesterday presided over the university's 6th graduation, where over 551 students graduated.

Speaking during the ceremony, the President challenged the newly graduating students to be productive for the nation to benefit from the investment made through their education.

“As you are graduating from one of the most productive universities, you must inspire and drive Malawi’s economic growth. It's high time the nation moved from consumption to production," he said. 

"The nation expects a lot from you and wherever you go the world will judge the potential of MUST through you.”

Themed "aligning skills and knowledge with industry and community needs", the graduation ceremony also MUST being commended for contributing to the country’s social economic development through entrepreneurship, digitization and innovation, among others.

MUST Council Chairperson Boyd Luwe said since its inception in 2014, the university has increased enrollment from 150 students to around 5200. 

"Our academic portfolios have also expanded, from three undergraduate programmes to 27 now and from two postgraduate programmes to 21, including PhD’s," said Luwe.

"I am happy to report that in 2014 we were only offering face-to-face tuition but today we are now offering ODeL and weekend programmes. We also admit generic, economic fee paying and mature entry students." 

Luwe further disclosed that the MUST Endowment Fund, launched in 2021 to ensure that no student drops out of school due to lack of tuition and upkeep, has now grown up to K7 billion.

He said the Fund benefitted from aggressive activities and donor benevolence.

"It’s pleasing to report that the Fund supported over 120 students last year alone and these have been adopted for continued support," he added.

During the event, Vice Chancellor Professor Address Malata announced that she will be leaving the institution at the end of her contract in the next few months.

Before the graduation ceremony, the President toured displays of the university's contributions toward national industrialisation efforts, including urine-based granular organic fertilizer, the WALA tablet and laptop assembly, and drone production.