The National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) in collaboration with the Malawi University of Business and Allied Sciences (MUBAS) on Thursday the 30th of March 2023, conducted a stakeholder consultation meeting on the proposed Diploma in Construction Management and Certificate in Draftsmanship.
In line with its mandate, as encapsulated in the NCI Act, the NCIC conducts training, within Malawi and co-ordinates training conducted by others, of persons engaged in the construction industry. Accordingly, the Council identified a gap for Clerks of Works and developed a proposal to facilitate development of a training program to fill the skills gap in the construction Industry.
On its part, MUBAS being a higher education Institution with established capacity to offer programs in the built environment, agreed to collaborate with the Council to develop the program and adopt it as part of its other on-going programs in the School of Built Environment. The two parties, therefore, signed a memorandum of Understanding in May 2022.
In her remarks, the Training and Research Director of NCIC, Mrs. Neema Kadaluka, noted that the two parties felt that it was important for players in the Construction Industry to contribute to the development of the curriculum of the proposed Clerk of Works program due to their hands-on experience in the field. ‘We thought we cannot finalize this process of curriculum development without involving you our stakeholders as you clearly know what the industry needs. As NCIC we stand somewhere between the academia and the actual industry,’ said Mrs. Kadaluka. She then thanked participants for turning up for the important event.
Speaking on behalf of the of the Executive Dean of the Faculty of the Bult environment, Mr. Gilbert Chilinde, indicated that the consultations are a critical component in the curriculum development process. He also added that, as an institution of higher learning, they are responsive to the needs of their stakeholders, and they strive to come up with demand driven programs. ‘I therefore thank you for sparing your time for coming to this consultative meeting as your contributions are critical in the developing this curriculum as well as getting it approved by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE),’ said Chilinde.
Stakeholders took opportunity of the half-day event to deliberate on the course content of the proposed Diploma in Construction Management and Certificate in Draftsmanship and made suggestions for consideration of MUBAS.