Harmonisation and alignment of business studies in higher education in Tanzania
NICHE-TZA-043
Sector
Private sector development
Project budget
The maximum budget for this project is € 1.9 million.
Organisations
This project has been developed by the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU). The tender for this project expired on 5 November 2010.
Nuffic has awarded this tender to VU University Amsterdam, which has formed a consortium with University of Groningen and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
Project description
This project will address TCU's core functions as regulator, promoter and supporter of the country's higher education system. The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is the platform for harmonisation of Tanzania's education system and has clearly spelt-out skills orientation guidelines. The NQF will be further developed and aligned with industry and business sectors. Furthermore, it will be piloted at the Faculty of Commerce of Mzumbe University (MU) and Iringa University College (UICo) and their business and entrepreneurship programmes will be harmonised accordingly.
The youth population in Tanzania is rapidly growing and currently makes up more than 30% of the total population and 68% of the national labour force. At the same time, the youth unemployment rate is alarming, especially in the urban areas. At 55% the unemployment rate in Dar es Salaam city is the highest, compared to 41.4% in all urban areas and 8.6% in rural areas.
Private sector development is dependent on an appropriately skilled, creative, innovative, motivated and highly dynamic and gender-sensitive workforce. The poor performance of Tanzania's private sector is attributed to the lack of these characteristics among its workforce. Employers complain about, among other things, inadequate commitment to quality, integrity, innovation, readiness to learn and pro-activeness.
Currently, most university curricula do not clearly address skills orientation due to a lack of guidelines and a clear skills framework. This has led to the production of graduates who do not have the appropriate skills, mindset and gender sensitivity to fit into the job market.