Malawi: Education Minister Challenges Must Graduates to Drive Malawi’s Industrial Revolution
Education Minister Bright Msaka has challenged graduates of the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) to put their knowledge and creativity to work in transforming the country’s industrial future.
Speaking on Thursday at MUST’s 7th congregation ceremony at the university’s campus in Thyolo, held under the theme ‘Innovating for Resilience: Science and Technology for an Industrialised Malawi,’ Msaka told graduates that government believes the greatest investment any nation can make is in its people, through education, research and technological advancement.
He said education, science and technology remain essential drivers of Malawi’s development ambitions, equipping citizens with the tools needed to devise solutions, generate wealth and improve everyday livelihoods across the country.
The minister argued that innovation has become indispensable in tackling global challenges such as rapid technological upheaval, climate uncertainty and shifting labour markets, insisting that nations willing to invest in innovation are far better placed to build industries, create jobs and generate wealth for their citizens.
Msaka was keen to stress that industrialisation means far more than simply building factories, describing it instead as a broader mission encompassing adding value to local products, developing homegrown technologies to solve local problems, manufacturing goods Malawi currently imports, and creating meaningful employment opportunities for the country’s young people.
The address came as outgoing Vice-Chancellor Professor Address Malata reflected emotionally on her decade in charge of the institution, describing watching young people discover their own potential as one of the greatest achievements of her tenure.
She recalled how many students arrived on campus uncertain of their future path, only to leave years later as fully-fledged engineers, scientists, innovators and leaders in their own right.
Malata said the graduation ceremony represented far more than simply marking academic achievement, describing it as a celebration of the sacrifices made by families, the dedication shown by lecturers and researchers, and the future contribution graduates are now poised to make to national development.
By Nyasa Times.
