Since 1985 students in Malawi have been required to contribute financially to their university education. Various financing mechanisms, including loan schemes, have been established to enable students from disadvantaged backgrounds to benefit from university education; however, the loans schemes suffered from two inherent weaknesses. Firstly, there were no transparent mechanisms to identify deserving candidates. Secondly, the schemes did not include effective loan recovery mechanisms. In order to sustainably increase equitable access to higher education and address the national skills gap, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), funded by the World Bank, contracted IPC to conduct a study to analyse past approaches and develop a viable student financing mechanism and management system for Malawi.

IPC’s experts implement the following tasks:

• analysing Malawi’s experience in student financing mechanisms: past student financing mechanisms and the current Higher Education Student Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB)
• conducting stakeholder interviews to identify specific competences and interests concerning the implementation of a student loan programme: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), NCHE, financial institutions, higher education providers, Ministry of Finance

• analysing the student financing management system currently used by HESLGB
• conducting literature reviews about student loan programmes worldwide and identifying best practices
• compiling and submitting a report presenting the results and various options for the student financing mechanism
• facilitating a mid-assignment workshop to discuss the content of the report and identify a strategy for the student loan mechanism
• developing final recommendations for the student loan mechanism: setup, features (goal, target group, products), etc.
• preparing and submitting a report presenting the technical and functional requirements of an integrated student loan management system
• facilitating a final workshop to discuss the recommendations