Make your collaboration firm, higher education institutions told

The State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) has on 5 th October, 2017 hosted a joint seminar between the Committee of Vice Chancellors, Principals and Provosts in Tanzania (CVCPT) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) with the theme ‘Collaborative Approaches to Globalization Growth’.

The seminar which was held at Maruhubi Campus and officially opened by Honourable Riziki Pembe Juma, the Zanzibar Minister of Education and Vocational Training incorporated the senior leaders from higher education institutions in Tanzania and some stakeholders from the Commonwealth countries.

In her opening remarks, Hon. Riziki urged the universities to cooperate since they cannot grow with quality in isolation. “I commend the ACU to come a long way with a mission to link more of our universities to the rest of the world”, the Minister informed. She also called upon members of the CVCPT to reflect upon the theme of the seminar and critically evaluate individual institutions in order to see various ways which can help to build quality of higher education systems in our institutions. This will help to deliver quality education to our young generation, she fleshed out.

Prof. Idris Rai contributes during a session.

On the question of international exposure through study abroad programmes, Hon. Riziki advised each institution member of CVCPT to identify its selling proposition a niche that it can call itself the leader nationally, regionally and globally so eventually we may attract foreign students to come and learn from us, this can better be done through collaborations with foreign institutions, she added.

She requested the CVCPT members who are not members of the Association of Commonwealth Universities to consider the benefits critically and if they can add value to their institutional development they shouldn’t hesitate to join. Earlier, Prof. Idris Rai, the Vice Chancellor of the State University of Zanzibar and Deputy Chair of the CVCPT said in his welcome remarks that collaborations are the key factors in developing higher learning institutions.

Taking the example of SUZA, Prof. Rai enlightened that collaborations have enabled SUZA to effectively develop its staff as they have been instrumental in transforming from college to university culture and they have been vital in building institutional reputation around the globe. Through collaborations SUZA has currently over seventy partnership agreements with institutions from various countries of the world, Prof. Rai clarified.

Participants pay attention to ACU’s Director of Programmes.

Supporting Honourable Minister’s request, Prof. Rai informed that SUZA has joined the Association of Commonwealth Universities to learn, to look for benchmarks outside the country amidst growth, to collaborate, to contribute to higher education development and to develop SUZA as one of the regional leaders in higher education. Prof. Rai commended ACU for its initial suggestion to hold the event jointly with CVCPT and thanked the Chair and the CVCPT members for their proposal which enabled SUZA to host this seminar and the first CVCPT meeting to be held in Zanzibar under SUZA’s hostage.

Introducing the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Director of Programmes, Mr. Ben Prasadam-Halls, mentioned the key purpose of his association as to advance international cooperation in the fields of higher education and to help its members to develop their capabilities in human resources as well as through various programmes to promote academic mobility among the Commonwealth countries. This seminar explored issues which focused on the role of regional collaboration in meeting the challenges of internationalization and quality of institutions.

Hon. Riziki Pembe Juma (seated centre) with seminar participants.