The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) this week has Accredited the Bachelor of Laws (Honours) Programme at the Catholic University of Malawi (CUNIMA).
The Catholic University of Malawi becomes the first ever private University in Malawi to have its Law Programme accredited by the NCHE.
The University received an accreditation confirmation of its programme after board members of NCHE had met for their 33rd meeting on 5th October, 2021.
Vice-Chancellor of the University Rev. Fr. Dr. George Buleya, in a circular, described the accreditation as a milestone
“Given the importance we ascribe to standards and independent assessment of our programmes and the long wait we have endured to have our law programme accredited. We regard this development as a milestone in the history of our university and indeed, the history of legal education in Malawi,” he said.
He added that the university will now hold its graduation ceremony for law students who completed their studies the past years at the University.
Until this week, only government, through University of Malawi formerly known as Chancellor College, offered a nationally recognized Bachelor of Law degree.
The accreditation has been welcomed by many social media users, with some hoping that training more lawyers will lead to affordable legal fees in a country with only 627 registered lawyers.
Lawyer Wapona Kita said Malawi will benefit from having more lawyers considering that the population has grown multiple fold, there are many disputes and people are now more aware of their rights.
“People are now more aware of their rights. Chanco alone could not keep up producing enough lawyers to meet the needs of the society. The more lawyers we have, the more society benefits, and of course the more business for lawyers because every party to a dispute will now need a lawyer, a competent one from an accredited uni. Kudos CU once again,” Kita posted on Facebook.
