PRESIDENT John Magufuli is expected to grace the opening of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CoNAS) of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), to be held at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Mlimani campus next Wednesday.
The CoNAS Principal, Prof Thomas Lyimo,
said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the college, whose one of its
notable alumni is the head of state, has registered a number of
achievements for the past 50 years.
"So far a total of 9,384 students have
graduated with science degrees, among these, 8,088 were undergraduate
while 1,296 were postgraduate degrees," said the CoNAS Principal while
briefing reporters on the golden anniversary.
Prof Lyimo pointed out that the event,
which goes under the theme 'Science for Sustainable National
Development' is aimed at reflecting back on both achievements and
challenges and to establish a vision for conducting science for the next
50 years in the 21st century.
"The theme was coined in recognition of
the instrumental role of science and technology in economic and social
development in societies," he observed.
The CoNAS principal said the number of
students at the college has increased from 23 during its inception in
1965 to 2,210 now, adding that the number of degree programmes has
increased from two in 1965 to 28 now. "It started with a small enrolment
of 23 students taught by an impressive number of 25 academic staff," he
said.
Prof Lyimo said the College which
started as Faculty of Science (FoS) was the first institution offering
science education at higher learning level, saying the FoS officially
started in July, 1965 with 5 teaching departments namely Botany,
Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology.
He pointed out that new departments of
Geology (1974) and Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (2002) were
established and that in April, 2009 the then Faculty of Science was
merged with the former Faculty of Aquatic Sciences and Technology
(FAST).
Prof Lyimo said the event will go hand
in hand with a symposium to discuss the role of science and technology
in economic and social development in societies and that the CoNAS will
also use the event to showcase different scientific works carried out by
the college
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