IRINGA VARSITY EXTEND WINGS TO ARUSHA, MBEYA

 

IRINGA VARSITY EXTEND WINGS TO ARUSHA, MBEYA

BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA

The University of Iringa is extending its wings to Arusha and Mbeya.

Extension to the two key cities in the opposite sites of the country coincides with introduction of new learning programmes. 

These are to include MBA programmes in Law, Tourism, Journalism and Community Development to be conducted in the two campuses. 

"In Arusha, we will be anchored at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC)", said Prof Andrew Hariel Mbwambo, the deputy vice chancellor.

The university which is under the Lutheran Church has already secured a space for the purpose at the state-run convention centre.

"It is very secure and quiet and has enough facilities for office and lecture rooms", he said of AICC's former library in Kilimanjaro wing.

He said the university management has picked Arusha as one of its campuses due to the regional status of the city. 

"Our degree courses are very competitive as they will attract highly qualified people such as the judges and PhD holders ", he pointed out.

The MBA courses, as is the case in other learning institutions, would be open to different learners "who are competent in their respective working areas". 

He added that the university's transformative role was not only targeted on knowledge generation "but to enable one to be practical in life". 

According to Prof Mbwambo, the University of Iringa was in 2022 ranked third in East and Central Africa as a higher learning institution with 'real impact' in academics.

Globally, the university which is under the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) emerged 50th in the ranking, he said. 

"We are good at transforming our students through absorbing knowledge through a practical approach", he said in an interview.

The Arusha campus will have an average of 100 students; all pursuing post-graduate courses in the earmarked disciplines. 

While the journalism courses are expected to boost the local FM radios, tourism lessons would do the same for the tourism industry.

The University of Iringa, which started off in the early 1990s,enrols about 5,000 students per year, 74 percent of whom are sponsored by the government.

An official of the AICC confirmed that indeed, the academic institution has been offered space for its new campus there.

The convention centre has over 23,000 square metres of office space with significant portions not occupied. 

This was after some tenants, notably the Arusha-based regional organizations such as the East African Community (EAC),constructed their own premises.

The major pull out by the international bodies happened in 2015 when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was disbanded.

Prof Mbwambo,the deputy VC in charge of Academic,Research and Consultancy, did not give details on the Mbeya campus reported to have taken off.

The University of Iringa started off initially as Iringa Lutheran College in 1993/94 offering courses leading to the award of a Diploma in Theology. 

In 1995/96 the first undergraduate students were enrolled for a course leading to the award of Bachelor of Business Administration. 

They graduated in 1998 when the College became part of Tumaini University as Iringa University College (IUCO), becoming the first registered private university in Tanzania. 

In 2010 Tumaini University was changed to Tumaini University Makumira and the Iringa University College being a constituent College of Tumaini University Makumira. 

In 2013, the Tumaini University Makumira Iringa University College became a fully fledged University with the new name University of Iringa (UoI).