Mzumbe University

MZUMBE UNIVERSITY was the fourth public University to be established in Tanzania, after the University of Dar es Salaam, the Sekoine University of Agriculture, and the Open University of Tanzania. It’s origins lie in the Institute of Development Management (IDM) which had existed since 1972 as one of the larger institutions of higher education in the country. In 2001, the institute was transformed into Mzumbe University.

The main campus is situated some 22 km southwest of the Morogoro town centre and about four kilometres off the Tanzania-Zambia highway. Morogoro is a large town about 200 km from Dar es Salaam. A satellite campus has been set up in Dar es Salaam and exclusively offers Masters programmes in business administration and public administration.

Another satellite, around 700 km further along the Tanzania-Zambia highway, has been established at Mbeya where LLB and various law diploma programmes are offered.

The main campus offers all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes from the faculty headquarters there. The five specialised faculties deal  with: Commerce; Science and Technology; Social Sciences; Law; and Public Administration and Management. One of the university’s institutes, the Institute of Development Studies, offers an MSc in development policy. The total of academic and research staff at all three campuses of Mzumbe University is 207, seventy percent of whom have masters or doctoral degrees – but only 11 publications from Mzumbe appeared in accredited journals, and nine research-based books were published.

The university has a total count of 400 computers spread across three laboratories, two of which are for student use and one for staff; and all three campuses are connected to the Internet via satellite dishes. The Netherlands and Norwegian governments have for the past 30 years (including support for the IDM) supplemented institutional spending on computer infrastructure.

There are plans in the pipeline to run distance-learning programmes, and to introduce a Mzumbe University MBA.