Challenges and Prospects in Tanzanian Higher Education

This short paper briefly discusses some of the challenges facing higher education in Tanzania and the panaceas that government and other institutions are implementing to address the challenges. The paper uses secondary data obtained from the country’s Ministry of Education and Vocation Training and from selected higher education institutions in the country. The challenges are identified as occurring mainly in the areas of funding, quality assurance, relevance, ICT, equity and internationalization. The following strategies for addressing these challenges are reported: matching rising enrolments with public facility enhancement; encouraging the establishment of private universities; cost-sharing; affirmative action; and distance education