UNIMA postpone Poly opening date after injunction against fees hike

Following the injunction obtained by Malawi Polytechnic Students on Wednesday against recent fees hike, the University of Malawi (UNIMA) Council has postponed the opening date for college.

The college was slated to open on 3rd October for the start of a new academic year especially newly selected students to pursue different programmes while the continuing students would have joined them on October 10 but UNIMA has deferred the opening date in order to resolve the fees issue.

“Council of the University of Malawi regrets to inform all new and continuing students at The Polytechnic that the opening of their college which was scheduled for 3rd October 2016 for new students and 10th October 2016 for continuing students, has been postponed to a date to be communicated later.

“This is due to the need for the Council and the Polytechnic Students Union to resolve the tuition fees matter which is currently in court,” reads a statement from the UNIMA Council.

The development suggests that the council will work on having the injunction vacated first before announcing a new date for the opening of the college

The University council raised the fees from K55,000 for government sponsored and K250,00 for self-sponsored students to K350,000 but the injunction allows students at the Polytechnic to pay the old fees structure.