St Luke’s College of Health Sciences was established in 1972. It is an Anglican-owned institution under the Anglican Diocese of Upper Shire. On its inception, the College’s mandate was to train nurses for the St. Luke’s hospital and its five health centers. At first, the College used to train only enrolled nurses for two years who then completed an additional year for midwifery at Mulanje Mission College of Nursing and Midwifery. Currently, the enrolment number of students has increased progressively to over 600 as of 2016.
The College is a semi-autonomous entity and it has played important roles in the development of the disciplines of nursing, midwifery and allied health programs in collaboration with its major stakeholders such as Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM), development partners, Ministry of Health, Nurses and Midwifery Council of Malawi (NMCM), American Institute of Extended Studies (AIES) and Association of Business Managers and Administrators (ABMA).
St Luke’s College of Health Sciences is operating under the auspices of the Anglican Diocese of Upper Shire (ADUS), CHAM and MoH, in training competent and skilled nurses and midwives working in the Health Sector. The college is now graduating nurse and midwife technicians who undergo an integrated Nursing/Midwifery program running for three years and are awarded a College Diploma: Community Midwife Assistants undergo eighteen months of training and graduate with a certificate in Midwifery. The College has increased its recruitment spectrum to students in Community Development and Public Health whom the college thinks will also be its strong market upon exploring their employability and registration.