TCU sets guidelines on higher education fees

By Malela Kassim

Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU)

Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) says it has come up with a system aimed at removing disparities in tuition fees and other costs students are charged by institution of higher learning in the country.

TCU said the Students Unit Cost Framework (SUC) is intended to guide institutions of higher learning in the country in designing their programmes, determining the costs of running them and setting indicative amounts of tuition fees in order to curb the existing differences.

TCU Director of Finance and Administration, John Aswile, told The Guardian in an exclusive interview that the framework was ready and awaited approval of the minister for Education and Vocational Training.

“The framework involved public and private universities. Once it is approved, the differences in fees and other costs won’t be as they are now,” said
He said it has been difficult for the Commission to control the fees because there was no comparative basis of the fees payable to the institutions.

“We are sure that the framework will solve the existing disparities. We can’t tolerate such big differences anymore …some are charging at least 2m/- for a course, while others offer the same course for 6m/-,’’ he said.

According to him the system will facilitate apportioning of higher education costs between the government and individual students contrary to the current system where some students are forced to contribute huge amounts of money to cover the disparities in charges among the institutions.

Meanwhile, TCU says it has not received an official request from the University of Dodoma (UDOM) regarding the institution’s plan to increase its accommodation and tuition fees with effect from next academic year.

During an interview, TCU senior official, Malehe Setta, said TCU has not yet received the University’s proposal concerning the issue.

The TCU statement follows recent reports which quoted the Chairman of the Council of the University of Dodoma (Udom), ambassador Dr Juma Mwapachu, saying the University intends to increase fees in order to improve services to its students.

“The decision follows increase in running costs together with insufficient budget from the government …however our fees will remain lower despite the increase due to the fact that other government institutions charge higher fees compared to us,’’ Mwapachu is quoted as saying.

According to the University’s Public relations officer, Beatrice Bartzar a decision is yet to be reached on the amount to be increased.

For a long time there have been some complaints from parents, guardians and students in the country over failure of the government to control tuition fees among higher institutions and universities especially private ones. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN