How LUANAR engages students with Research4Life from day one
First year students attending Research4Life user training, LUANAR, Malawi. Photo credit: Khumbo Chirembo.
The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) has a unique history rooted in its beginnings as Bunda College. Established through an Act of Parliament in 2011, LUANAR was formed by de-linking Bunda College from the University of Malawi. Today, with multiple campuses, including Bunda, NRC, City, and Open and Distance e-Learning (ODel) centers, LUANAR focuses on agriculture and natural resources, serving over 13,000 students.
LUANAR is dedicated to producing high-quality graduates by providing its students with access to essential academic resources. “Our goal is to increase the number of quality graduates,” explains Kumbo Chirembo, Technical Librarian at LUANAR. “Through, among others, provision of high-quality academic resources, for example, peer-reviewed journal articles and e-books to augment the traditional library.” This access aligns with LUANAR’s mission to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to Malawi’s growth and progress.
The library’s role in supporting access
For many years, LUANAR has benefited from access to the Research4Life content portal, made possible through the Malawi Library and Information Consortium. Before Research4Life, budget constraints created significant challenges in accessing a wide range of academic materials. As Khumbo shares, “With tight budgets, challenges to information access were always there.” Today, however, LUANAR’s students, faculty, and library staff can access journals, books, and other resources—empowering them with the tools necessary for academic success. “The coming in of Research4Life breathed a sigh of relief,” Khumbo notes, “allowing students to access additional academic resources with ease.”
Khumbo Chirembo, Technical Librarian, LUANAR
« LUANAR’s library staff are instrumental in ensuring that students and faculty can make the most of Research4Life », explains Khumbo. The User Education team, composed of six dedicated members, conducts regular information literacy sessions to help students and faculty learn efficient research techniques. LUANAR’s commitment to Research4Life training begins in students’ first year with sessions that cover essential skills, including effective information searching, evaluating source reliability, copyright awareness, and open access philosophy. The library also provides on-demand computer lessons for first-year students who need extra support with digital literacy. Khumbo remarks, « by introducing these skills early, LUANAR ensures students are well-prepared to use Research4Life throughout their academic journey ».
Developing skills to meet Malawi’s Vision 2063
Integrating Research4Life from the first year has been invaluable in building students’ competencies. Khumbo adds, « early exposure to Research4Life resources allows students to develop critical research skills that prove essential in their third and fourth years, especially when working on dissertations ». Maggie Nyasa, a library intern, reflects on her own experience at another Malawian public university where Research4Life was not available. “If the university had subscribed to Research4Life,” Maggie notes, “working on my assignments, including my final-year project, would have been easier.” She believes that LUANAR’s students have a distinct advantage in their studies because of this resource.
Introducing Research4Life aligns closely with LUANAR’s broader mission of producing graduates who can meet the demands of Malawi’s labor market, including roles in science, economics, engineering, and agribusiness—skills essential for Malawi’s Vision 2063. This vision aims for Malawi to be an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation. By offering students access to comprehensive academic resources from the start, LUANAR contributes to the development of skilled professionals who are equipped to support the nation’s progress.
Training sessions to maximize learning
Since implementing Research4Life, LUANAR has seen a growing interest among both students and faculty. Training sessions for the platform are more popular than ever, so much so that the university now holds them almost weekly to keep up with demand. Khumbo sees this enthusiasm as “our undisputed testimony that interest and impact is there.” To keep this momentum going, a dedicated technical team maintains stable network connectivity, and the library collaborates closely with faculty to encourage students to use Research4Life in assignments and research projects. This teamwork ensures that students can make the most of the platform and maximize their learning potential.
LUANAR teaching complex, Malawi. Photo credit: Khumbo Chirembo.
Student Reflections on Research4Life’s Impact
The impact of Research4Life at LUANAR can be seen and heard through success stories and feedback shared by students who use the platform. Lizzie Mbale, a Development Economics student, highlights how Research4Life has transformed her educational experience by providing free access to journals and e-books, saying, “Research4Life has benefited me a lot in that I can access a lot of resources for free, thereby helping us improve our education experience because we use up-to-date learning resources.” Maxwell Chiphwanya, a PhD student in Animal Science, describes Research4Life as a “great search engine for us researchers in low-income countries.” Maxwell credits Research4Life with providing critical resources for his doctoral research proposal and ongoing academic work.
First-year students are also experiencing significant benefits from learning to use Research4Life early in their studies. Samson Mpinda, a student at Bunda Campus, finds that searching for academic resources on Research4Life is “now easy for me to do my studies since searching for academic resources on the Research4Life platform is faster” than visiting a physical library. His classmate, Eunice Kilowe, echoes these sentiments, noting that Research4Life enables her to find specific books unavailable in the library. “It is now easy to write assignments because I can easily search for books, and also references to previously used literature,” she adds, highlighting the convenience of accessing academic resources on her smartphone.
Supporting continued use and expanding digital literacy
To further support its growing student population, LUANAR is expanding its digital literacy initiatives and planning a new library facility. These steps reflect LUANAR’s commitment not just to academic success but to building a skilled workforce prepared to contribute to Malawi’s Vision 2063. By introducing students to Research4Life early in their studies, LUANAR is building competencies that empower students to thrive academically and take part in shaping a brighter, more self-reliant future for Malawi.
