About Us

Our History and The Future

The Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) is Malawi’s National Research and Education Network (NREN), officially recognized by the Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Education. It was established in 2005 by the country’s two public universities at the time— the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University—after they experienced significant growth in electronic resources but faced major connectivity challenges in accessing them.

The precursor to MAREN was the VSAT network installed at four university campuses: Chancellor College, the College of Medicine, Mzuzu University, and Bunda College of Agriculture (then part of the University of Malawi and now under the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources). This network was established by the Malawi Libraries and Information Consortium.

Between its inception and incorporation with the Registrar of Companies in 2009, MAREN underwent extensive stakeholder consultations and awareness efforts, both locally and internationally. The picture beside shows one of these consultations, where the guest of honour was the then Minister of Information, Mrs. Patricia Kaliati.

Prior to its operationalisation, MAREN was managed by a task team composed of staff appointed by the founding universities. Later, additional stakeholders were invited to nominate members to join the task team. These stakeholders included the National Commission for Science and Technology, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Malawi University of Science and Technology.

The initial task team members were Prof. Leonard Kamwanja, Mrs. Margaret Ngwira, Mr. Anthony Muyepa, Dr. Harry Gombachika, Mrs. Ulemu Nyasulu, Mr. Bruce Zamaere, Mrs. Chipo Kanjo, Mr. Seyani Nayeja, and Mr. Paxton Zozie.

In 2018, MAREN received US$4 million in seed funding from the Malawi Government’s Digital Malawi Project to support its operationalisation. This funding enabled the recruitment of key staff—including the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technical Officer, and an Administrative Assistant—procurement of essential equipment for setting up the data network, and capacity building for both the MAREN Secretariat and technical staff from selected member institutions.

Mission

To provide affordable access to connectivity, computing hardware, software and e-resources for research and education institutions facilitating collaborative research, knowledge creation and sharing of resources

Vision

Seamless access to cutting-edge digital solutions and resources for every student and researcher, enabling collaboration and innovation

Your Needs. Our Mandate

Advanced Network Services

The mandate of the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) is to provide advanced network and network-enabled services to the research and education sectors in Malawi.

MAREN is recognized by the Malawi Government as its National Research and Education Network (NREN).

Objectives

To provide high-speed, cost-effective, reliable, secure and sustainable interconnectivity services to post-secondary and research institutions including teaching hospitals;
To provide a platform for the development and use of advanced network facilities and services by the post-secondary Education and Research Communities in Malawi;
To facilitate access to national and international electronic resources not readily accessible because of bandwidth and hardware constraints and optimise the efforts of researchers to create, manage, discover and disseminate knowledge;
To provide state of the art cyber-infrastructure to support the development, sharing and delivery of innovative online education content and applications nationally and internationally and the development of learning and research communities across Malawi;
To facilitate collaboration of Universities and other institutions of post-secondary education duly registered with a State department or agency and Research Institutions recognised by the Government of Malawi for purposes of, on a non-profit basis, securing and providing electronic communications network services generally, including the benefit of new developments, resources and facilities in information and communications technology, for thebenefit of the Universities and other institutions of post-secondary education and Research Institutions in Malawi;
To provide a platform for researchers in Malawi to participate in collaborative research and development projects on the international stage and access to global academic and research cyber resources;
To promote collaboration of Library Information Systems that allow institutions to easily digitize and share collections;
To facilitate access to affordable hardware, software, online resources and bandwidth through collaboration with members for purposes of achieving stronger negotiating positions and securing better terms for members of MAREN when dealing with suppliers of hardware, software, online resources and bandwidth;
To contribute to enhancement of cybersecurity in member institutions;
To contribute to enhancement of cybersecurity in member institutions;
To contribute to advancement of Information and Communication Technologies in Malawi and beyond through Research and Development; and
To provide technical support and knowledge transfer on ICT related matters to member institutions;