The University of Malawi (UNIMA)- the mother university in Malawi – was founded in 1964. Teaching started on 29th September 1965 at the newly established campus which used to be an Asian Secondary School in Blantyre. Only 90 students were enrolled. By 1967, the then Institute of Public Administration at Mpemba, the Soche Hill College of Education, the Polytechnic, all these in Blantyre, and Bunda College of Agriculture now housing Lilongwe university of agriculture and Natural resources (Luanar) since 2011 in Lilongwe were incorporated as constituent colleges of the University of Malawi. Besides Bunda College and the Polytechnic, the other colleges moved to Zomba in 1973 to form the University of Malawi campus. Kamuzu College of Nursing became the fourth constituent college in September 1979. In 1991 the College of Medicine was established in Blantyre as the fifth constituent college of the University of Malawi.

One cannot conceive of higher education in Malawi without talking about the mother of all universities – the University of Malawi. Since its establishment, the University of Malawi has been instrumental in training and developing a reliable human resource that has gone to service various sectors of society in the country and the region. The recent boom of universities in the country has partly been possible because personnel to run such universities is readily available, a vast percentage of these personnel is the University of Malawi-trained graduates. University of Malawi graduates have had an impact and have success and progress in other universities in the region and beyond as graduate students and faculty. This attests to the quality of graduates that the university churns.

In addition to the colleges, the University of Malawi has Research Centres. These are the Centre for Social Research; the Centre for Language Studies; the Centre for Educational Research and Training; Natural Resources and Environment Centre (NAREC), and the Gender Studies Unit.

At present, there are over 8,000 students enrolled in certificate, diploma and degree programmes. Undergraduate students are admitted to the University after obtaining their Malawi School Certificate of Education (equivalent to the British ‘O’ level [GCE]), IGCSE. Students apply through the National Council for Higher Education which oversees the harmonised selection process for all public universities in the country. The University of Malawi also admits ‘A’ level, International Baccalaureate, National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Advanced Subsidiary (AS) candidates. It also runs Mature Entry Programmes to cater for students with Diplomas and/or module-related work experience. There are various postgraduate certificates and degree programmes on offer.

On 4th May 2021, the University of Malawi (UNIMA) which comprised four colleges namely, Chancellor College, College of Medicine, Kamuzu College of Nursing and The Polytechnic was delinked into three different colleges as follows:
• Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS)- This University has emerged from the joining of the College of Medicine and Kamuzu College of Nursing into one university.
• The Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences(Mubas) – This University is what used to be called the Polytechnic.
• The University of Malawi is now what used to be called Chancellor College.

To be a center of excellence in higher education for sustainable development of Malawi and the region.

To advance knowledge and to promote wisdom and understanding by engaging in teaching, research, consultancy, public and community engagement and by making provision for the dissemination, promotion and preservation of learning responsive to the needs of Malawi and global trends.

Knowledge Lights Wisdom

Unima is located in Zomba, the old capital city of Malawi. It is about 2km from Zomba’s main trading center at a location called Chirunga.

1. African Languages and Linguistics
2. Biological Sciences
3. Chemistry
4. Classics
5. Computer Science
6. Curriculum and Teaching Studies
7. Economics
8. Education Foundation Studies
9. English
10. Fine and Performing Arts
11. Foundational Law
12. French
13. Geography and Earth Sciences
14. History
15. Human Ecology
16. Language and Communication Skills
17. Mathematical Sciences
18. Philosophy
19. Physics
20. Political and Administrative Studies
21. Population Studies
22. Practical Legal Studies
23. Psychology
24. Sociology
25. Theology and Religious Studies

University of Malawi,
P.O Box 280
Zomba.
Malawi, Central Africa

The current campus for University of Malawi are in Zomba at Chancellor College fondly known as (Chanco)

Visit Unima website here

1. School of Education
2. Faculty of Social Science
3. Faculty of Science
4. Faculty of Humanities
5. Faculty of Law