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Varsities, colleges told to impart better skills to future workforce

AS Tanzania aspires to become an industrialised country, higher learning institutions have to deliver future generations with the right set of skills and knowledge to prepare the future workforce for the challenges ahead.

The remarks were made in Dar es Salaam yesterday by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, Professor Faustine Kamuzora, during the 26th Annual Convocation of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT).

“For higher learning institutions to achieve this, it is time for them to evaluate how the industrialised economy will affect them and delivery of education will be transformed,” he noted.

Prof Kamuzora further said universities have to do necessary adjustments, including changing circulars to align with national aspirations for graduates to get employed or engage in self-employment.

The PS said having natural resources was necessary but not sufficient condition as it was not a guarantee for a country to be rich, noting that the extraction part of it mattered a lot. He said the industrialisation process required the public to think creatively and value chain distribution and customer service processes.

In the meanwhile, the future of education emphasizes the immense need to look beyond such aspects to prepare graduates.

Presenting his keynote address on the ‘Role of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in the industrialisation of Tanzania economy,’ Prof Kamuzora said education played an important role in the industrialisation drive during the first phase of the Industrial Revolution of England.

“Prussian counties that were better educated in 1816; that is before the start of the Industrial Revolution, responded more successfully to the opportunities created by the outside technological changes from Britain,” said Prof Kamuzora.

He outlined aspects to consider to achieve industrialisation as good infrastructure, knowledge in finance, human capital and advanced technology.

Earlier, the Director of High Education in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Professor Sylivia Temu, said OUT was an institution, which gave community members an opportunity to pursue education anytime and anywhere.

“Among the objectives of this university is to provide education to those who could not attain it through conventional universities

I urge you to stick to your objectives to liberate more people in the country,” she appealed. Prof Temu said OUT should consider increasing scope of services at district level to assist more people to achieve their goals of improving the standards of living and that of the country at large.

The convocation’s President, Professor Honoratha Mushi, said ODL has proved to be one of the major means of reaching masses of people for education and training.

“Tanzania expands and enhances the adoption of ODL the chances of educating its population to engage in the industrial sector will be exponentially accelerated,” she said

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