MUBAS’ ABMA students protest demand for top-up examination fees on account of kwacha devaluation

Students pursuing various Association of Business Managers and Administrators (ABMA) degree programmes at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) have protested the decision by the college management to demand examination fees top up from students who already paid the fees.

This follows the decision by the varsity management to adjust examination fees to as high as K169, 000 per student due to what they called “devaluation of Malawi Kwacha”.

Surprisingly, the students paid their examinations in September 2023 before the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) aligned the local currency with the United States dollar.

In a memo dated 14^th November 2023, Centre Manager Dr. Andrew Chimpololo communicated to the students that the recent devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha had affected the fees, which each student needed to pay for ABMA examinations.

The fees are charged in British pounds. Chimpololo claims that the fees have not been remitted to ABMA despite the students paying the exam fees way before the kwacha alignment was effected.

“After calculations, all students sitting for the December examinations series are therefore required to top up their examinations as follows: ABMA Level 4=K131,250 (K26,250 per subject), ABMA Level 5 = K150, 000 (K30, 000 per subject) and ABMA Level 6 = K168, 750 (K33, 750 per subject). Please arrange to pay the shortfall by Tuesday, 28^th November 2023,” reads the memo to the students.

But the students have put their feet down, challenging that they cannot pay for failure by the management to remit the examination fees to ABMA in time.

The students, who expressed disappointment and anger, wondered why the varsity management could choose to penalize them for their negligence.

“We are not paying any additional cost for the examination. Actually, we have communicated with the ABMA Board, which has assured us that the recent devaluation has had no effect on their examination fees,” said one of the students based in Lilongwe.

Meanwhile, the disgruntled students have obtained a demand letter from the court to force MUBAS to stop collecting additional examination fees.

Nthanda Times is yet to talk to the MUBAS management on this.