TANZANIA’s higher education sector is undergoing transformation in a number of areas, including financing, infrastructural expansion, and capacity building geared at spurring economic growth.
Under the ongoing Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) the project, which is funded by the World Bank (WB), is set to make education sector a main driver for the economy.
The five-year project, worth 425 million USD Dollars (over 972bn/-), will also strengthen the learning environment, ensure greater alignment of priority degree programmes to labour market needs, and improve the management of the higher education system.
Additionally, the project will address the country’s pressing need for high-skilled workers with labour market-aligned competencies in priority areas, which have been frequently cited by employers as a result of the limited abilities of graduates from higher education institutions in the country.
The third National Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP III; 2021/22 – 2025/26) exhorts the availability of resources to ensure basic, advanced and tertiary education and technical/ vocational training are equipped for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and inclusive digital learning/teaching.
“This will include continuing to expand physical infrastructure and facilities in line with projected changes in the demographics, in order to allow quality education and health provision that meet standards,” the document reads in part.
HEET will invest in infrastructure for modern and effective teaching and research, and training to the highest standard the lecturers, researchers and administrators needed by universities.
Tanzania has seen a reduction in enrolment in recent years, but the annual demand for university education is predicted to climb to more than 500,000 students by 2030, according to the World Bank.
Roughly 80 per cent of the HEET funding will be used to increase admissions and improve university teaching quality.
By 2030, the government projects that there would be an increase in demand for at least 482,000 more places in higher education.
In this situation, the World Bank determined that there was an urgent need to expand university education to keep up with the growth.
Prof Adolf Mkenda, the Minister for Education, Science and Technology said under the project the country’s higher education sector will see the construction of infrastructure including hostels, lecture rooms, and conferences in which 14 universities will be beneficiaries.
He also said that new campuses will be built through the project such as the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)’s campus in the Lindi region to accommodate 360 students, the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS)’s Mloganzaila campus with a capacity of 11,000 students and the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)’s Mizengo Pinda campus in Katavi with a capacity of accommodating 2,500 students.
Others are Mbeya University of Science and Technology campus in Rukwa with 3,000 students’ capacity.
“The project will also facilitate construction of new campuses in marginal satellite cities including Kagera, Tanga, Kigoma, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Simiyu, Ruvuma, Manyara and Singida,” he said.
He further said that the project is also expected to improve a total of 19 higher education institutions by constructing 34 hostels which will have the capacity to accommodate 9,042 students.
A total of 130 lecture rooms will be built under the project which will accommodate 27,254 students, 7,850 laboratories, 23 conference halls, agriculture infrastructure and 10 incubation centres.
Education institutions under the Ministry of Finance and Planning that will benefit from the project are the Institute of Financial Management (IFM), the Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), The Eastern Africa Statistical Training Centre (EASTC), Tanzania Institute of Accountancy (TIA) and Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA).
SUA has been allocated with 73.6bn/- in the project for infrastructure development and maintenance, curriculum improvement, equipment purchase, and staff training facilitation.
SUA Vice Chancellor, Prof Raphael Chibunda, said the college will construct 11 buildings for learning and teaching. Six buildings will be built at the Edward Moringe Campus, two at the Solomon Mahlangu Campus both in Morogoro Region and three at the Mizengo Pinda Campus in Katavi Region.
Other buildings, he said include three hostels, three academic buildings, one dormitory, three laboratories and one building for promoting research and innovation in the fields of engineering and Information Technology (IT).
UDSM has received 47.5 million US Dollars for various education advancement activities that will rapidly transform the campus in academics.
According to the UDSM Deputy HEET Coordinator, Dr Liberato Haule, through the project, the university is going to establish new campuses in Bukoba and Lindi in Kagera and Lindi regions respectively.
“Other education transformation efforts will include the construction of more than 11 new buildings, including state-of-the-art Information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure and equipment, as well as the updating of learning resources and equipment,” Dr Haule explained.
According to Dr Haule, an upgrade will be made to the Universities Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Mlimani Campus and its Institute of Marine Sciences in Zanzibar with the goal of enhancing the capacity of female students to enrol in degree programmes in engineering, science, and technology.
