Ardhi University short of operational funds, space

Inadequqte funds, teaching and office space have made Ardhi University lag behind in the provision of essential services to both staff and students.

The university�s governing council chairperson, Tabitha Siwale, made the remarks in Dar es Salaam yesterday at the inauguration of the university�s council.

According to Siwale, the university lacks essential facilities to enable it provide basic welfare services to the university�s community, which she attributed to insufficient funds.

She said the varsity faces challenges of sufficient and improved welfare facilities due to the increased number of secondary school graduates who want to pursue studies at the university.

She said following increased enrolment in primary and secondary schools there will definitely be a high demand for enrolment in higher learning institutions where the issue of social welfare services had to be addressed.

She said as a university, it should not depend solely on the government to provide them with funds to cover all its expenses.

``We can not expect the government, with its wide range of responsibilities and limited resources, to provide funds for all the needs of the university while we leave some potentially lucrative sources of internal income generation untapped,� she said.

For his part, former prime minister and Ardhi University Chancellor David Cleopa Msuya said the university was facing a number of challenges to pursue academic and research objectives to the highest standards attainable.

One of the challenges is increased number of students enrolled. The university has currently 1,700 students.
``It is not sound for a varsity like this to have such a small number of students enrolled,`` said Msuya, adding that the government is aware of increased demand for higher learning education.

However, university`s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Idrissa Mshoro said that plans are underway for the construction of a multipurpose building to accommodate more than three thousand students.

The university has about 132 academic staff, of whom 45 hold PhD degrees, while 20 are currently pursuing PhD level studies and several others are taking Master�s degrees in and outside the country.