Malawi needs a mass communication university
President Bingu wa Mutharika announced on Monday 24 May 2010, during his open address of the 2010/11 budget meeting of parliament in Lilongwe that his government is scheduled to open five universities within the next 10 years.
Since the institutions of higher learning will only focus on science and technology, cotton research and water resources management, marine biology and livestock research, the Member of Parliament of Mulanje central, Kondwani Nankhumwa, said they will be giving the House a proposal for the establishment of a mass communication university.
"I know the University of Malawi and the Malawi Institute of Journalism offer degrees and diplomas in journalism respectively but it is very clear that these are not enough," said Nankhumwa in an interview with a local radio station on Wednesday.
He said there is no major media research that the current media institutions are carrying out because they do not have the capacity.
No need for a new institution
"With a fully fledged media university Malawi will not only have media doctors and professors that would have graduated through the proposed mass media university but would also established media programmes that will spur development," said Nankhumwa, who is also chairperson of the Media Parliamentary Committee.
However, one of the media practitioners working as bureau chief for the Blantyre Newspaper Limited, Karen Iron Msiska, has said there is no need for Malawi to have a mass media university.
"I am not buying [into] that idea. If the reasons that he is giving for the new university are all what he is saying then all what is needed is to build capacity for the University of Malawi as well as introduce a masters' degree programme," Msiska told Bizcommunity.
Msiska, who is an alumnus of the University of Malawi, said the quality of research that students produce before they are awarded their bachelors degree in journalism is something that can as well transform the media landscape in country.
About Gregory Gondwe
Gregory Gondwe is a Malawian journalist who started writing in 1993. He is also a media consultant assisting several international journalists pursuing assignments in Malawi. He holds a Diploma and an Intermediate Certificate in Journalism among other media-related certificates. He can be contacted on moc.liamg@ewdnogyrogerg. Follow him on Twitter at @Kalipochi.
