Early this month, the Tanzania Universities Commission (TCU) revoked the admission of 8,000 students it had earlier admitted to various universities, citing “lack of academic qualifications.”

The Commission released a list of continuing students from 10 universities out of 52 who it said did not meet the admission criteria.

The affected universities are: St Augustine University of Tanzania (1,046 students), St John’s University of Tanzania (968), State University of Zanzibar (966), and Mzumbe University (639).

Others are Abdulrahaman Al-Sumail Memorial University in Zanzibar (552), University of Iringa (522), Institute of Rural Development Planning (431), College of Business Education of Dodoma Campus (375), Institute of Finance Management (305) and the University of Dar es Salaam (224).

Exercise to continue
The TCU’s director of admission and documentation Kokuberwa Mollel said the exercise would continue in another 30 universities.

Dr Mollel told students and other stakeholders to check the TCU’s website for further updates about the exercise.

The TCU had launched the crackdown with a view to ascertain the legality of school certificates and diplomas used by students while applying for admission for undergraduate studies in different institutions of higher learning.

In May last year, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training Joyce Ndalichako announced the expulsion of 7,802 students from the University of Dodoma who were discovered to lack the prerequisite qualifications.

The students were pursuing diploma courses in science subjects and mathematics with the aim of meeting the increasing demand for science and mathematics teachers in public schools.
However, 6,595 of those expelled were later posted to teacher training colleges while 269 others went to vocational training institutions.

Triggering the exercise
The exercise was triggered after the discovery of 480 unqualified students admitted to St Joseph University in Tanzania in the 2015/2016 academic year.

The issue was exposed by the minister of education in parliament over a debate about her ministry’s budget estimates for the 2016/17 financial year.

The minister clarified that the students were granted admission to pursue university education while some of them had not even been to high school.

The minister said most of them were Form Four leavers who had performed poorly, yet the Higher Learning Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) had issued them with loans amounting to millions of shillings. The 480 students were discontinued.