The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) in its quest to forge partnerships with industry, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cocacola Beverages Malawi Limited (CCBM).

Signed in Lilongwe at CCBM’s headquarters, among others, the MoU will see the two institutions collaborating in areas of skills sharing, staff exchange, training, student internship placement, research and consultancy.

Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, MUST vice chancellor, Professor Address Malata thanked CCBM for its willingness to support and also allowing the university’s female students to do internship at its factories.

“Public universities’ enrolment of girls is generally low and when they come on campus, they need support and exposure. However, we would like to CCBM to extend this to our lecturers as well, especially females,” she said.

She said the collaboration with CCBM will help MUST in its quest to become a world class centre of excellence.

“We want to impact lives and that is why we challenge our students to be innovative because the world is looking for solutions to the myriad challenges it faces. I would, therefore, urge CCBM management to challenge these student interns to innovate and come up with solutions to some of your challenges. We have seen it working elsewhere. You can do the same to our faculty so that we demonstrate our relevance to national development,” said Professor Malata, adding that apart from Engineering students, CCBM can also engage the university’s students in ICT and other relevant fields.

On his part, CCBM managing director, Seutloadi Thaanyane, said he looked forward to more ceremonies to celebrate the success of the MoU.

“The key is to have this agreement translate into successful stories and that can only happen if we implement everything we have agreed. As a company, we are committed because we believe that for us to be here, someone gave us a chance to succeed and it is our goal to ensure that we also support others,” he said.

He said CCBM believes in women empowerment and that is why they wanted initially to support female students. 

“Our women have been marginalized for too long despite their capabilities. We have utmost trust in MUST because they share our vision,” said Thaanyane.

After the signing ceremony, MUST officials were taken on tour of the CCBM factory.