The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), through the Computer Science and Information Technology (CSIT) department in the school of Malawi Institute of Technology (MIT), recently organized a specialized Data Analytics short course to 50 Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) officials. 

The course run from May 6 to 31, 2024 at the National Bank of Malawi Leadership Centre in Blantyre. 

Speaking during the closing and certificate presentation ceremony, guest of honour and MRA executive director of corporate services, Mrs Agnes Katsonga Phiri, highlighted the importance of the training for modern tax collection and data driven decision making at the institution. 

“As MRA, we generate a lot of data and as such, we are geared to be a modern tax collection body that thrives on data-driven decision making by empowering our officers at all levels to be data proficient,” she said. 

On his part, MUST Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Wilson Mandala, emphasized the significance of continued collaboration between MUST and MRA in fostering innovative solutions and enhancing academia-industry ties. 

“As per its strategic plan, MUST is always ready to bring innovative solutions to different sectors of the society,” he said.

CSIT head of department, Dr Bennett Kankuzi said it was an honour for his team and MUST to offer such a tailored training to MRA officials.

“For four weeks, MRA officials practically delved into the data analytics workflow. The department is also very open to offering such trainings to various organizations, in many areas of IT such as software engineering, cyber security, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), among others,” he said.