ACADEMIC STAFF SHORTAGE HITS NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY

 

The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) is facing a critical shortage of the academic staff.

The Arusha-based learning centre has only nearly one third of a total of 196 lecturers it needed. 

The pan African university currently has only 77 professors,lecturers and junior ranked academicians but needs 196 to deliver efficiently.

This means it critically needed 119 academic staff of different ranks to cater for its 645 students. 

The shortfall emerged recently during a visit to the institution by members of the Parliament Committee on Social Services. 

Vice Chancellor Prof Emmanuel Luoga said the number of the academic staff must be increased to cope with expansion. 

Under its Strategic Corporate Plan 2020/26, the university anticipates to increase its student intake to 1,000 from 645.

"At that stage, we will need at least 400 academic members", he told members of the Parliament Committee.

He added that under the expansion programme NM-AIST would also need to have a total of 145 support staff.

The institution, also known as Nelson Mandela university, was opened in 2012 at Tengeru near Arusha city.

It is one in a network of Pan-African institutions of science and technology in sub-Saharan Africa mulled some 20 years ago.

However, concern is rising on the shortage of lecturers for the university tasked to offer an internationally competitive teaching and research.

The shortfall, according to Prof Luoga, is more pronounced with the senior academic staff.

Currently, there are only five professors while the demand is 31, meaning 26 are needed to fill ghe gap.

There are six associate professors while the demand is 32 with the shortfall again being 26. 

The continental academic facility was also short of a combined total of 67 senior lecturers, lecturers and assistant lecturers.

In order to address the crisis, the institution intends to hire part-time lecturers and opt for Adjunct Faculty where eminent professors are contracted to work there. 

Prof. Luoga said that the government has been approached on the issue and on the possibility of  hiring lecturers from outside.