MalDent Project pioneer, Dr Mwapatsa Mipando, installed as the new Vice-Chancellor of Malawi University of Science and Technology

On 1st June this year, the Council of Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) announced the appointment of Associate Professor Mwapatsa Mipando as the next Vice-Chancellor of the university. The announcement can be read in full here.

Dr Mipando will be very familiar to readers of this blog. It was during a visit he made to the University of Glasgow in 2016, when Principal of the University of Malawi College of Medicine, that he and I had our very first conversation about the possibility of establishing a dental school in Malawi. That conversation over a cup of coffee was the very beginning of The MalDent Project and of an enduring partnership and friendship.

Now, ten years later, Dr Mipando would become Vice-Chancellor of MUST. The handover of the role took place at the 2026 Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 6th August. I was honoured and privileged to be invited to the event to represent the Scotland Malawi Partnership.

It takes about an hour to drive from the centre of Blantyre to the MUST campus. The ceremony was due to commence at 08.30 and I arrived at 07.30, by which point the campus was already busy:

The organisation of the event was superb. I was directed into a parking space and from there into the robing room. There were plenty of refreshments available and all the delegates, as they arrived, were very friendly and cheerful. At the allotted time we lined up for the academic procession and took our seats, waiting for the Vice-Chancellor’s procession and the beginning of the proceedings.

There was a very large cohort of students seated in the hall and waiting patiently. After the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Address Malata, entered with her distinguished colleagues and guests, the ceremony commenced. I have sat through many graduation ceremonies in the UK and never lost my sense of enjoyment at such events – the major milestone that has been reached by the new graduates, the happiness and pride of their families and friends, and the overall sense of occasion. That sense of occasion was heightened at this graduation by music from a brass band and a jazz band, together with the sheer exuberance of those involved:

There was a series of speeches, after which the students were presented to the Vice-Chancellor to receive their degrees. A very wide range of courses, both undergraduate and postgraduate, is available at MUST, as reflected in the multiple degree types being conferred. Many of these courses are in medical subjects, for example Medical Microbiology, Immunology, Medical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering, with relevance to Malawi’s developing oral and dental healthcare services. It was exciting that this graduation ceremony included the award of the first two PhD’s ever conferred by MUST – a very fitting achievement at the end of Professor Malata’s highly successful term of office as the founding Vice-Chancellor.

The senior delegates were seated on the podium for the ceremony, including Dr Mipando who did not have an active role to play until the end of the event.

At the appropriate stage in proceedings, Dr Mipando was invited to join Professor Address Malata at the centre of the podium …

… at which point the formal transition of the Vice-Chancellorship took place, with the handing over of a large symbolic key:

That piece of symbolism was extremely powerful, and with it now comes the massive responsibility that rests on the shoulders of all who accept such senior leadership roles.

The ceremony ended with a speech by The Honourable Bright Msaka SC, the Malawi Government Minister of Education, Science and Technology.

After we had processed out of the hall, I was able to greet Dr Mipando and offer my congratulations on his new role. I was ushered into a room which included members of the press and was honoured to be introduced to the Minister of Education, Science and Technology, together with other senior delegates. Following a few minutes of conversation and a group photograph,..

… I headed for my car. Outside was extremely busy with hordes of happy graduates, friends and families enjoying the sunny afternoon and relaxing together:

This had been an extremely uplifting day for me. On behalf of myself and the Scotland Malawi Partnership I wish Dr Mipando all the very best for his term of office as Vice-Chancellor at MUST, and look forward to continuing collaboration into the future.