AFRICA, Tanzania, EU Welcomes Sh47 Billion Proposals for Higher Education

THE European Union (EU) through the Academic Mobility Scheme has allocated Euros 23.45 million (about 47bn/-) to support higher education in the African, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) countries which include Tanzania.

The scheme aims at promoting higher education cooperation between countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. It is managed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission with support of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the ACP Secretariat.

The Head of the EU Delegation in Tanzania, Ambassador Filiberto Sebregondi called upon individual Tanzanians and higher learning institutions to make maximum use of the opportunity which he said builds on the African Union's Mwalimu Nyerere programme for Africa,.

"It funds partnerships between higher learning institutions from different countries within these regions, and grants scholarships for students and academics to carry out studies, research or teaching in another country covered by the programme," Ambassador Sebregondi said.

An information session on higher education cooperation with focus on the Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Scheme was held at the University of Dar es Salaam attracting the attendance of officials from the Tanzania Ministry of Education, Tanzania Commission of Universities (TCU), Africa Union (AU), ACP Secretariat and the University of Dar es Salaam.

Others were students and staff of higher learning institutions from across the country. It was coordinated by officials from the EU Headquarters in Brussels. The session promoted the scheme among Tanzanian higher learning institutions and individuals who have shown interest and also raise the quality of future applications.

It was also in response to the two previous calls for proposals in 2011 and 2012 in which five higher education institutions from Tanzania had shown much interest in the programme. These included African Technology Policy, Ardhi University, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam and Sokoine University which is the coordinator of the programme in Tanzania.

Between 2011 and 2012, over 70 individual Tanzanians have benefitted from the mobility scheme.