Old Mutual welcomes KUHES undergraduate students into MK2.6bn hostels

Premier financial services provider, Old Mutual Malawi Limited, on Friday welcomed the first cohort of 100 undergraduate students into two state-of-the-art hostels the company built at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHES) Lilongwe campus.

Unveiled in December last year after 17 months of construction works, the hostels–which have, among others, 154 beds–aim at addressing the shortage of student accommodation at the campus.

Old Mutual constructed the hostels at a cost of MK2.6 billion through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, which the Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) signed on behalf of the Government of Malawi.

A lot of exciting activities marked the welcoming of the undergraduate students.

Speaking during the event, one of the Managing Directors at Old Mutual Malawi Limited, Mark Mikwamba, said student accommodation infrastructure is important in the promotion of education.

“The problem of shortage of student accommodation is huge in Malawi. We will continue exploring opportunities to construct more student accommodation hostels across universities,”  said Mikwamba, who heads the Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG) subsidiary, which is responsible for investing all funds earned by Old Mutual Malawi Limited.

In his remarks, Director of Student Affairs at KUHES, Benjamin Kumwenda, said more student hostels are required as the university, so far, can manage to accommodate only half of its student population across its three campuses of Lilongwe, Kameza and Blantyre.

“This affects education delivery. Most students are staying far from campuses, leading to compromised access to libraries and computer labs on their part. This also affects the proper academic experience of the students,” Kumwenda said.

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