Examining Performance and Challenges of Private Universities in Malawi

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue VI, June 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Examining Performance and Challenges of Private Universities in Malawi

Samson C. R. Kajawo

International Center for Teacher Education – East China Normal University

Abstract – Private higher education has been extensively accepted by many countries in the world, including Malawi. Are the private universities performing effectively? This study sought to examine the performance and challenges of the private universities in Malawi. The study was guided by three research questions which examined the performance of private universities and how universities’ accreditation policies and resources such as financial, human and physical were contributing or affecting their performance. Guided by the systems theory by Bertalanffy, this study was conducted at six private universities located in the Blantyre City in Malawi using a mixed methods research approach; utilizing the descriptive convergent parallel design. It involved a total of 152 respondents using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Documentary review and observations were also used for collecting data. The key finding of this study was that private universities were extending higher education opportunities to a lot of Malawians left out by public universities with relevant study programs. However, the study revealed that the quality of higher education offered in these universities left a lot to be desired due to numerous challenges starting from insufficient finances due to their over dependency on students’ fees, of which their enrolments were beyond minimum levels. This led to challenges of inadequacy of qualified teachers and physical resources such as infrastructures and equipment. As a result of all these hiccups, education quality was compromised. The study therefore recommended that government should strengthen its monitoring and control efforts as well as support financially these institutions, and that private universities should come up with other ways of fund raising, as well as considering merging.

Key words: Performance, Examining, Challenges, Private universities, Malawi universities.

I. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Higher education has always been viewed to be a crucial element for social, economic, political and technological development all over the world. It is an important component of the education system of any country because it creates and advance new knowledge and skills through teaching and research. Higher education also produces people who have the high level skills that are critical to the country’s socio-economic development and the implementation of development policies in a global society (Government of Malawi, 2013). Investment in higher education has been argued to be more beneficial in enhancing economic development than when such kind of investment is excessively focused on other levels of education (Tibalimbasa, 2010; Heyneman & Stern, 2015; Suleiman, Hanafi & Tanslikhan, 2017).

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