Arusha Times Reporter
3 May 2008
Arusha — With the pace to establish higher institutions of learning gaining speed in Arusha, the management of Mukidoma chain of Schools has expressed their intention to set up yet another University in the vicinity.
The Arusha Campus for the Mukidoma University will be the fourth such institution to be started here in recent years.
This is after the curtain was raised by Mount Meru University, formerly Baptist theological college, which was upgraded to the higher status in 2002. The Mount Meru University is located in Ngaramtoni area, along the Namanga road on the way to Nairobi.
Makumira Theological College, an institution owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, followed suit two years later, when it also rose up its status to become the second institution of higher learning in Arusha.
The college, located along the main Moshi-Arusha road at the Makumira section of Meru is now known as Makumira University Campus and falls under the institutions chain of the Lutheran owned Tumaini universities dotted across the country.
In 2005 the Seventh Day Adventist Church also decided to upgrade its college that was located in the Ngurdoto forest in Engongongare ward in Meru, into a fully fledged higher institution of learning now going by the name of 'University of Arusha.'
The trend, apparently, seem to be the same for all these new 'university' prototypes in Arusha. The new institutions are all based in Meru district; all were upgraded from previously existing colleges and are all owned and run by Christian churches.
Now enters the new Mukidoma University; Arusha Campus, the soon-to-be fourth installment in the series, but aiming to be 'a little bit different!'
To begin with, the proposed University is going to be the first ever privately owned higher institution of learning which is not affiliated to any church or organization.
But like the other three Universities, Mukidoma will also be based in well, Meru District.
The Executive Director of the Mukidoma chain of Schools, Dr. Musa Masanja however said the new institution would be 'a University with a difference'
"We shall start with offering Majors in Education for instance BA and BSC with Education", revealed the Mukidoma schools' head.
Other courses to be provided, according to the Director, include Business in Administration.
The Mukidoma University, Arusha Campus is expected to start operating between September and October this year and the institution will be based at Usa-River area, Meru District where the Mukidoma establishment runs other academic institutions such as the Mukidoma Primary, Secondary and High school.
Authorities in Mwanza Region have promised the Mukidoma management some 200 acres more in addition to 100 acres that the new institution occupies now.
So the area to set up the main University campus premises in Mwanza has been taken care of, but what now about Arusha, especially Meru, where land is one major problem?
"The University Campus here will be operating in the existing structures where the current Mukidoma Secondary and High school streams are being hosted," said Dr. Masanja.
The Secondary school classes as far as Dr. Masanja is concerned, will soon be shifted to Njiro where the Mukidoma establishment has already built more school premises.
"The main campus will be in Mwanza, in fact the parent Mukidoma University located at Kisesa area in the Magu District of Mwanza region (Lake Zone) is now ready for business.
The foundation stone for the Mwanza main campus was officially inaugurated by the Vice President Dr. Ali Mohammed Shein at the end of last year.
So who exactly will be able to afford the fees to attend the Mukidoma University, Arusha campus once it opens its doors at the end of this year?
"Our fees will be equivalent to those charged in other local institutions of higher learning," said the Mukidoma Director.
At the moment almost all local wards in Arusha and Meru district have a secondary school each; there are more than 60 secondary schools in the two districts alone. Arusha region on the other hand, has seven districts to date.
Now with such increasing number of lower learning institutions, with related escalating number of their students, can the new Mukidoma and the other already-established, local three Universities here, be able to handle this ever rising number of future scholars?
"Arusha will not exactly be the end of the road," explained Dr. Masanja, we intend to establish other Mukidoma University campuses in, among other areas, Bagamoyo (in coast region), Tabora and in Zanzibar," he added.
So far so good, but isn't something missing? Like the real meaning of the term, 'Mukidoma;'
"It is an ellipsis of our names; Mine, Musa Kinaturu Masanja and my Wife's Dorcas Masanja," explained the 'Mu-ki-do-ma' director. Now at least we know.
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