University selection to be extended

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Chancellor College Great Hall

All students who were left out in the 2015/2016 University selection can now hold their tears following an announcement that has been made by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

The body which was entrusted with responsibility of selecting students into public universities has today confirmed that it will conduct a second selection which will benefit only those students that missed the opportunity.

“National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), would like to inform the candidates who applied for the university selection in the 2016/2017 academic year that there will be a SECOND SELECTION. This will only apply to all candidates who were left-out in the first selection,” reads part of the press release.

Chanco.According to NCHE, results for the second selection will be released on 29th June giving them a month to revisit the list of deserving students who were not favoured enough to make it.

However, it is not yet clear as to which criterion is going to be employed in the second selection process.

With reference to the 2016/2017 University selection, only 2085 students have made it to the University of Malawi out of over 15,000 applicants whereas less than a thousand students will walk through the corridors of Mzuzu University and Lilongwe University of Agriculture.

The NCHE has not given any reason as to why it will be going into the second phase of selection but the council recently came under fire for considering undeserving students at the expense of those who were qualifying.

However, being selected to public universities is a double-edged sword; the selected students’ will have to meet the higher cost of attaining knowledge once considered.

Higher tuition fees and the struggle for raising upkeep money by themselves have partially privatised the public institutions of higher learning.

In response to the news, more people have lauded the council’s efforts to increase the intake whereas few others have faulted it for making errors.