By Benadetta C. Mia

Standard Bank Plc has donated funding worth K20 million to Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) towards its endowment fund which seeks to assist needy students and enhance resources mobilization at the institution.

Through the endowment fund, Standard Bank committed a four year sponsorship amounting to K80 million which is distributed in division of K20 million per year.

The Bank commenced its contribution from last year and has so far contributed K40 million towards the fund.

Speaking during the handover ceremony William Nuka, Head of Engineering and Chairperson of the Bank’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Committee said that the fund seeks to improve access to education for students and further improve service provision at the institution.

“Standard Bank believes that investment in education contributes positively to the overall growth of our nation. Therefore, the fund we are disbursing today will help students to acquire the desired education at the same time improving education standards at MUST,” said Nuka.

Nuka said that the funding resonates with the bank’s core purpose which seeks to see the growth of Malawi in all sectors.

Nuka further added that through the funding Standard Bank is enhancing equity in the education sector.

Vice Chancellor of MUST, Professor Address Malata commended the partnership that exists between the school and the bank saying it will contribute to positive growth of the institution.

“Since we started our operations in 2014, Standard Bank has been a partner for growth helping MUST to be financially sustainable. The contribution will help to enhance delivery of education at the institution and assist needy students.

As an education institution we hope to see the growth of the endowment fund’s revenue to K30 billion. As a result the institution will be contributing 40 percent to our budget in the process helping the government to achieve the MW2063 vision,” Malata said.

MUST Endowment Fund was established in 2021 to provide a more sustainable mechanism of resource mobilization to support needy students and also foster the university’s developments.

Within two years of establishment, the Fund is close to K2 billion which will be used for tuition fees and other infrastructure development after a tenure of three years.