gms | German Medical Science

The University of Malawi College of Medicine (COM), now Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHes) was established in 1991 as the first medical school in Malawi. For the first 4 years of the medical school’s inception, students were sent abroad for their preclinical teaching before their subsequent clinical studies in Malawi. Creating a medical school resulted in more graduate doctors remaining in the country. In addition to the main objective of training Malawian doctors, the medical school has contributed to solving the human resource problem for the whole southern African region as demonstrated by the growing number of students from the neighboring countries. Although for the first 2 decades teaching relied heavily on expatriate lecturers, the introduction of postgraduate training in 2002 led to an increase in the pool of local lecturers and created a more conducive environment for teaching and research. The establishment of the Teaching and Learning Development Centre (TLDC) in 2012 enhanced the pedagogical skills of teaching staff and helped to maintain the quality of teaching and learning within the university. In addition to lectures, additional ways of teaching such as self-directed learning, problem-based learning and blended learning have been employed to manage increasing number of students. During this period of growth, the university began training physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists, pharmacists, dentists, public and global health experts, and have plans to launch occupational therapy and speech and language therapy programmes. Following the merger with Kamuzu College of Health sciences, KUHeS is one of the country’s leading institutions for nurse and midwife training whilst remaining the only university training doctors in Malawi.