At the heart of the quota system debate is the incredibly small number of students who are admitted to Malawi’s public universities. Malawi ranks bottom in the university-age cohort of young people enrolled annually.
Recent media reports indicate that just before the University of Malawi released its selection list for the 2012/2013 academic year in October, the Malawi government had contemplated ending the quota system of selection into public universities. The reason given was that the quota system was costly. Although the University of Malawi went ahead to base its selection on the quota system, Malawians were left wondering and debating the merits and demerits of the quota system. More importantly, the question on everyone’s mind was why nearly 50 years after independence, Malawi’s flagship university, the University of Malawi, could afford space for only 908 students out of 102,651 students who sat the 2011 school leaving certificate examination.
In order to examine whether or not the quota system is too expensive, and what its merits and demerits might be, we first need to define what we mean by ‘quota system.’ We need to contextualise the quota system’s historical and political meanings and implications for Malawi and draw comparisons and contrasts with higher education enrolments elsewhere in the world. We will also discuss why the number of students invited to sit the university entrance examination misrepresents the true number of Malawians who qualify for tertiary and university education each year. We will conclude by reflecting on the ill logic of higher education financing in this country, which is responsible for putting Malawi at the bottom of global enrolment tables for percentages of youth eligible for tertiary and university education.
THE ETHNIC ORIGINS OF QUOTA
In his remarkable memoir, ‘And the Crocodiles Are Hungry at Night’, Malawi’s celebrated poet, Jack Mapanje, recounts an episode from his days at Mikuyu Maximum Security Prison, which points to the origins of the quota system. Mapanje dedicates two chapters to the episode, Chapter 41, titled ‘Northerners as an Excuse,’ and chapter 42, ‘Chirunga Campus Riots.’ Chapter 41 talks about how Mikuyu prison played host to Malawi’s hotbed of ethnic sensitivity and antagonism. A new officer-in-charge for the prison, a Mr Mughogho, brings some changes to the prison. The diet has begun to improve, and prisoners can now eat sweet potatoes, among other foods. Then a prisoner, Mbale, escapes, leading to prison conditions being tightened and reversed to the harsh, punitive atmosphere.
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Africa: Malawi – Illusions of Elite Entitlement