DMI St. John the Baptist University graduates 658 in diplomas and degrees

DMI St. John the Baptist University on Wednesday awarded diplomas and degrees to 658 students who have finished their studies in various programmes, a development that spells out more pressure on government and the private sector to create jobs to accommodate fresh graduates.

Already, the Tonse Alliance-led government is facing challenges to fulfill its campaign promise of creating one million jobs for the country’s loafing youths.

It is probably against this background that the Director General (DG) of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr. Thomas Chataghalala Munthali, challenged the graduands to use their acquired skills and knowledge to create employment through entrepreneurship.

Munthali, who was the Guest of Honour at the ceremony, said entrepreneurships would go a long way to creating employment and contribute to the economic well-being of the nation.

“I am glad to note that the programmes at DMI are tailored beyond students acquiring employability skills, but importantly making them create employment through entrepreneurship. Currently, a majority of the youth do not have the requisite skills or financial capabilities to support the development agenda of the country,” he observed.

He added, “With the capacity of our citizenry developed, we will fully harness our resource potential and expeditiously achieve the agriculture productivity and commercialization, industrialization and urbanization agenda. The thrust of any economy is its educated people as they are the ones that design programmes, implement strategies and create innovations. Human capital is the “conductor of an orchestra” directing how other resources are put into productive use to attain desired outcomes.”

Munthali commended private universities such as DMI for playing a great role in creating the human capital that is fit-for-purpose in meeting Malawi 2063 development agenda.

He said the government and NPC will fully support DMI and all universities (private and public) in ensuring that their programmes align to the country’s vision pillars and enablers so that we can meet the aspirations sooner than 2063.

“May I hasten to add that the country still lags so much in its human capital development capacities and so we need to find innovative ways of producing en-masse the needed quantities while minding the quality. This will require innovation and investments in open and distance e-learning (ODEL).

“In modern times, we can no longer just rely on brick and mortar – this is what will distinguish the surviving universities to those that will fold-up due to lack of innovation. Just as the labour market is competitive for the graduands, so is the business market for universities,” he said.

In his remarks, the Pro-Chancellor of DMI St. John the Baptist University, Bishop Montfort Stima, said the institution remains committed to adhering to standards the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) set for the institutions of higher learning.

Stima stated that in line with the national policy of ensuring inclusive education, the university is offering a wide range of scholarships for the less privileged members of the society, ranging from 25 to 100 percent.

He challenged the graduating students to defend the just interests of the poor in the society and always reject corruption and bribery.

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