I.  Brief description of the higher education system in Tanzania

Tanzania has a dual system of post-secondary education with a clear distinction between what is categorized as tertiary education and higher education. Tertiary education institutions train, prepare, and produce middle level professionals in different occupations-usually not requiring a university degree as a basic entry qualification. Higher education institutions, usually universities, university colleges, and institutes train high-level manpower for occupations requiring a university degree or equivalent as a basic entry qualification in a profession.

Higher education in Tanzania can be differentiated into a university sector, including both public and private institutions, and a non-university sector, the latter comprised largely of government-owned institutes and colleges.

There are currently four public universities and 19 private universities and colleges. With the exception of one private university that has existed as a Catholic owned higher education institution for the past thirty years, private higher education is a recent phenomenon in Tanzania.

Beginning in 1997, private universities were granted permission to begin operations (Luhanga, 2000). By 1999, 19 private institutions were undergoing accreditation reviews by the Higher Education Accreditation Council (HEAC), and twelve of these admitted students in 1999-00 academic year, offering Bachelor’s degrees as well as advanced diplomas in different fields. There is only one accredited private university so far, which offers Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and postgraduate diplomas in medicine and nursing.

The non-university sector is comprised of institutes and colleges offering a multitude of technical, vocational, and professional courses in accounting, computer science, business administration, journalism and mass communication, engineering, teacher education, clinical medicine, agriculture, community development and social welfare (ESAURP, 1994). The sector enrolls more than 14,000 students annually.

Admission to public universities is very competitive, and is based on pass mark achievement on the Advanced Certificate of Education Examinations (ACEE). A limited number of non-traditional students enter public universities through Mature Age Entry Examinations and through distance learning conducted by the Open University of Tanzania that operates in all 25 regions of Tanzania Mainland. Higher education is also offered through the World Bank sponsored African Virtual University through its Dar es Salaam based campus.

Higher education access and participation in Tanzania is influenced by socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, religion and gender. The major ethnic groups that had the initial advantage of getting Christian missionary education continue to dominate higher education institutions and positions of power and influence. Moslems are underrepresented in higher education and in positions of power (Ishengoma, J. M. & Deborah, Youngman, 1999).

In the 1999-2000 academic year, a mere 0.3 percent of students completing primary education gained admission to universities. The university age cohort participation rate in higher education is 0.27 percent in Tanzania, compared to 1.47 percent in Kenya, 1.33 percent in Uganda, 4.66 percent in Namibia, 0.33 percent in Mozambique, 0.44 percent in Angola, and 1.05 percent in Zimbabwe (CVCPT, 1999). In the 1999-2000 academic year, total enrollment in public universities was 12,665 students, with women comprising 23.8 percent. There were 873 students enrolled in private colleges and universities in the same academic year (MSTHE, 2000).

University degrees, especially those from public universities, are highly valued by society despite high levels of unemployment among university graduates. For example, out of an annual average of 832 university graduates in a recent year, only 20 percent were found to be gainfully employed.

All public higher education institutions, though semi-autonomous, are regulated and controlled by the government through the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education and other relevant governmental ministries. The government allocates funds and approves budgets for universities and other higher education institutions, and appoints (and at times fires) the heads of these institutions.

II.  Financing Higher Education in Tanzania

Sharing of higher education costs is not a new phenomenon in Tanzania. The practice existed in various guises from before independence through 1974 when the government took over all responsibility for paying for higher education in exchange for a student’s working for two years in the public sector. Formal cost sharing in higher education was re-introduced in the late 1980’s due to economic crisis during this period that reduced the government’s financial support to the sector and as part of wide-ranging economic and social reforms under the IMF/World Bank sponsored structural adjustment programs (SAPS). The government first formally adopted cost sharing in higher education in 1988, but for political reasons, made its formal announcement in January 1992, two years after the general elections.

Due to the fact that higher education in Tanzania was “free” for more than 25 years, the government decided that the implementation of cost sharing should be in three successive phases.

The first phase became operational during the 1992/93 academic year. In this phase, students and their parents were required to pay their own fares to and from their respective places of domicile to universities. Prior to the introduction of this new measure, students were entitled to travel free in second-class coaches. Students were also entitled a 50% discount on domestic air travel.

The second phase of the cost sharing policy was implemented during the 1993/94 academic year. In this phase, students were required to pay for food and accommodation, student union fees, and caution money. The so-called higher education allowance was eliminated during this phase. The government retained responsibility for covering tuition fees, examination fees, book and stationery allowances, special faculty requirements, registration fees, and field allowances.

During this phase the government also introduced loans that are available to all students to cover on- or off-campus accommodation costs and meals sold in university cafeterias that have been privatized. Currently, the government pays every student 3,100 shillings ($US3.68[1]) per day to cover accommodation and meals. The government wanted to reduce this amount to 2,500 shillings ($US2.97) per day beginning in the 2001-2002 academic year, but students resisted. Parents/guardians are co-signatories for these loans.

The third phase is envisaged to involve partial payments by parents and students of the following costs: tuition fees; examination, books, and stationery allowances; special faculty requirements; and field practice allowances.

In October 1998, the MSTHE released a comprehensive Report of the Task Force on Financial Sustainability of Higher Education in Tanzania. This report recommended several funding options for higher education and different ways of improving and/or modifying the implementation of cost sharing. Among the recommendations to be implemented by the central government is the introduction of a means-testing system to ensure that those who have the ability to pay do not get government loans and grants. It is proposed that means-testing system should also include the so-called “democratic public confirmation of the ability to pay of such candidates directly involving the community.” At present, local leadership confirms the ability or inability of the candidates to pay higher education costs—and as expected, this “means testing system” has been grossly abused.

The Task Force proposed the following distribution of financial responsibility.

Table 1
Contribution to Higher Education by Stake Holder

The major concern of many parents, students, and higher education practitioners has been how loans will be repaid in the situation where university graduates are not guaranteed jobs and graduate unemployment is rampant. At present, students have to pay these loans when they finish their studies whether they have a job or not. Other than the general expectation that loans will be repaid over the period of 16 years after graduation, no recovery mechanism is yet in place, although the first loans have now become overdue (MSTHE, 1998). Some 11.85 Tanzanian billion shillings had been given out as loans to students between 1994-1999 according to anecdotal evidence.

III.  Expenses of higher education

Table 2 shows estimates of the expenses of higher education that are borne by parents and students.

Table 2

Estimated Expenses of Higher Education Borne by
Parents and Students in Tanzania,
First Degree, Academic Year 1999-00

[National currency (Shillings) converted to $US by [1999] purchasing Power parity estimate $1 = 676.07 Shillings]

[1] 2002 PPP estimate of $1=Tshs 842.07
[2] Annual fee for tuition, room and board at St. Augustine University for 1998-99 academic year.