Communicative Practices from the Margins: The Multilingual and Multicultural Repertoires on University Spaces

We draw from the meaning-making practices on the margins, the communicative repertoires of the multilingual and multicultural students at two Southern African universities: the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia; and the University of Malawi in Zomba, Malawi. As our locus, we are interested in the unique linguistic/semiotic coinages which constitute the students’ linguistic repertoires as multilingual innovations amenable to placemaking. In an attempt to do this, we purposefully unearth lexical innovations which we analyse within the broader framework of translanguaging. Thus, we show the emergence of (new) lexical items through the (re-)invention and disinvention of communicative resources, and the deployment of material artefacts of place as a basis for the creativity and innovation through repurposing of lexical items for new uses. Thus, we privilege students as active manipulators of their communicative practices by showing the semiotic/linguistic creativity and innovation inherent in their repertoires.

The Kamuzu University of Health Sciences: a “semi” new university is born in Malawi

Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been identified On 4th May 2021, a new university, the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) started its operations in Malawi following the notice of its commencement by the Ministry of Education. The (semi) new university emerged from the amalgamation of two (former) constituent colleges of the University of Malawi (UNIMA), i.e. the Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) and the College of Medicine (CoM).

A case study on the experiences of innovative, small-scale fish farmers in Malawi.

The Innovative Fish Farmers Network Trust (IFFNT) comprising of 25 farmers was established as part of the Master Plan Study on Aquaculture Development in Malawi (ADiM) with funds from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2004. ADiM aimed at promoting aquaculture development by establishing model farmers through financial and technical support from JICA and the Department of Fisheries (DoF). Farmers attended training facilitated by Bunda College, University of Malawi, and farmer exchange and study tours to Zambia and Egypt. They also received small grants to implement pilot on-farm projects. Production increased from about 0.7 tons/ha/year in 2003, to over 2 tons/ha/year in 2005. Other farmers adopted the technologies. However, as ADiM phased out in 2006, IFFNT became dormant. Its linkages with DoF weakened. There was no proper phase out strategy. Both ADiM and DoF needed to facilitate IFFNT until it was properly established; a change that should be adopted in any future IFFNT facilitation.

Attitudes Do Not and Cannot Change Overnight!

The study investigated the difference of attitudes towards business ethics between students who have studied a business ethics course (n=88) and those who have not (n=94) at the University of Malawi in Malawi. It was hypothesised that students who had undergone the course would have more positive attitudes towards business ethics than those who had not. We employed the Attitudes towards Business Ethics Questionnaire (ATBEQ) and used t-test to measure the difference. The results were surprising as most items (23/30) showed no significant difference in attitudes towards business ethics by students who had undergone the course from those who had not. Out of the seven that showed significant difference, five of the items showed more positive attitude towards business ethics by those students who had undergone the course than those students who had not. This shows that there is something positive as regards the methods of teaching business ethics at the University, but requires leveraging. The paper concludes by recommending three leveraging points that the University of Malawi can adopt in teaching a business ethics course.

Relationship between University of Malawi Selection Policy and Entrance of Education Graduates into the Teaching Profession

Many stakeholders have attributed the decisions of education graduates who decline to enter the teaching profession after graduation, to the University of Malawi selection policy, and have called for the abolition of redirecting students to courses other than their choices. The purpose of this study was to measure the relationship between the University of Malawi selection ‘re-direction policy’ and ‘entrance of education graduates into the teaching profession’. Cross-section data were collected from the total population of education graduates from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College from 2005 to 2009 (n=760), through document analysis and structured interviews. Using the χ2 test, the calculated χ2 (1df) was 3.265, p = 0.071 denoting that the university selection policy and entrance of education graduates into the teaching profession were independent. The study concluded that whether education graduates entered or declined to enter the teaching profession after graduation did not depend on whether they chose or were redirected to education during their university selection.

A Case Study on Training and Leadership

The challenge for African universities is to refocus their research and teaching missions to transform and revitalize the relationship between higher education and national development needs. Funded by British Academy African Partnerships (BAAP) programme, the University of Botswana, in partnership with The National University of Lesotho, University of Malawi and Calabar University in Nigeria, carried out 18 months of collaborative research project aimed at determining the implementation of Third Mission of Universities through rural community training and leadership. One of the two case studies, in D'Kar by Kellogg, in partnership with BA ISAGO University College yielded some very useful results. This included the necessity to build community leadership for sustainable development and the beginning of the poverty reduction process to take place.