Rev. Fr. Dr George Buleya (L) receiving the dummy cheque from the, Head of Corporate Banking, William Chatsala

Students at the Catholic University of Malawi (Cunima) can now be assured of studying with the latest versions of their textbooks following a gesture by National Bank of Malawi (NBM) to donate K7.5 million towards the purchase of the materials.

Cunima is reviewing it curriculum, which requires new books, and asked for support from NBM.

Speaking during the cheque presentation at the university's Nguludi campus in Chiradzulu on Friday, National Bank's head of corporate banking, William Chatsala, said the donation is a fulfillment of its corporate social responsibility while responding to the request by the University. 

"We thought it wise to extend our hands to Catholic University since the knowledge acquired here by the students help in the development of the country. In our corporate department, we have one guy from this University and he is doing good," he said. 

Vice Chancellor for the University, Father George Buleya disclosed that the review process was budgeted at about K200 million, but currently they have managed to raise half of the amount.

NBM and Cunima officials visiting the library 

"We are very grateful to National Bank. They are the first to respond to our request generously. As a University, we need to review our curriculum every four years and be accredited by the National Council for Higher Learning, and one of the requirements is to have new editions of the textbooks so that our students are taught new things. 

"The challenge however is that some textbooks are expensive, especially for those specialised courses like Nursing, Banking, Law and others that we offer here, that is why we also for help," he said. 

The donation by the bank is expected to furnish five library shelves with textbooks. 

Buleya further said the University has 33 programmes accredited by NCHE besides the Law which was approved last year.