Skills for work and life

Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) was established under legal authority granted by a provision in the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences Act of 2019 which governs the operations of the University. The University, formally The Malawi Polytechnic a college under University of Malawi (UNIMA), has been in existence since 1965. MUBAS has: five schools namely, Science and Technology, Built Environment, Business and Economic Sciences, Education, Communication and Media Studies, and Engineering; seven centres and seventeen departments. MUBAS offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the following disciplines: accounting; business administration; management; civil, mechanical, mining and electrical engineering; architecture and land management; environmental management; computing and information technology; journalism; language and communication; mathematics and statistics; physics and biochemical sciences; technical and vocational education and quantity surveying. The multidisciplinary nature of the University puts it in a unique position to meet the multifaceted industries and developmental needs of the society at large.

The Applied Education Department (in the School of Education, Communication and Media Studies), was established in 1981 to offer technical education teacher training programmes to prospective teachers. The department ha been training technical teachers to serve in secondary schools and various technical institutions. Currently the department offers programs which provides options for teacher trainees to major in technical subjects with mathematics and science as minors. The programmes also provides routes for technical college instructors to major in the specialist trades offered in the technical colleges such as automobile, general fitting, electrical installation, carpentry and joinery and welding and fabrication. The programmes provide opportunities for vocational and entrepreneurial skills development needed for industrial development and exports diversification through mining, manufacturing and agro-processing as stipulated in Malawi’s economic reform plans. The department has a wide range of stakeholders which includes: Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Education, TEVETA Malawi, Industries and communities.

Since the development of undergraduate programmes in Technical and Vocational teacher training programmes, the department has grown and is now offering Postgraduate programmes in the same discipline.