IN SHORT: According to a press release circulating on Facebook, the higher education council has announced selection results for Malawi’s public universities. But this is not the case, the statement is fake.
A press release posted on Facebook, apparently from Malawi’s education ministry, claims to announce how many students have qualified for public universities in the southern African country.
The headline of the supposed press release, dated 27 June 2023, reads: "RELEASE OF 2022/2023 PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SELECTION RESULTS."
According to it, of the 24,064 applications made to the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), only 14,083 were eligible.
“From this number, 53%, i.e., a total of 8,410 (4,363 male and 4,147 female) were selected.”
The students will attend six universities:
- Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS)
- Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR)
- Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS)
- Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST)
- Mzuzu University (MZUNI)
- University of Malawi (UNIMA)
For public universities, students must apply through the NCHE; for private universities, students must apply directly to the institution.
This “press statement” has also been published here and here.
At a time when higher education is highly sought after, the announcement of who was successful has the potential to cause anxiety among students and their parents.
But the statement is not on the education ministry’s website. So, is it legitimate?
Ignore fake press release
On 28 June 2023, the council of higher education dismissed the press release as "FAKE" on its official Facebook page.
“The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), would like to categorically distance itself from a press release circulating on social media (see below), regarding the release of selection results for the 2022/2023 Public Universities Selection, as it is FAKE,” it wrote.
“NCHE would like to emphasize that the selection results have not been released yet, and any claims suggesting otherwise are untrue.”
This was still the case on 7 July.
The council continued: “Once the results are approved by the respective Councils of the six public universities, they will be officially released through authorized channels. These include the official and verified websites as well as the social media pages of the universities and NCHE."
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