Mandela University proposes endowment fund
The entrance to the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology near Arusha city.PHOTO|FILE
What you need to know:
- The Arusha-based Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) is proposing to set up an Endowment Fund for Excellence that will boost funding at the University. The fund, according to the NM-AIST Deputy vice chancellor responsible for Academics, Research and Innovation Prof Anthony Mshandete, will be where development partners will channel their financial support to the pan African institution that si currently largely dependent on the Tanzania government.
Arusha. An Endowment Fund for Excellence has been proposed to boost funding at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST).
The fund will be where the development partners will channel their financial support to the pan African institution now largely dependent on the Tanzanian government.
Deputy vice chancellor responsible for Academics, Research and Innovation Prof Anthony Mshandete said the fund had been mulled many years ago, but has not yet come into operation.
“Now we are reviving it,” he told The Citizen, noting that many donors preferred having such a facility rather than channeling their development funds through the government.
Since its establishment in 2009, the Tanzanian government has channelled about $60 million to the university, which is located at Tengeru on the outskirts of Arusha, mostly on infrastructure development.
NM-AIST is one in a network of pan African institutions of science and technology set up across Africa in honour of the late anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela. Two others are the African University of Science and Technology in Abuja, Nigeria and the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The Arusha-based institution serves the eastern Africa region while another one will be established for the southern Africa zone.
They are research-intensive institutions for post graduate studies focusing on science, technology, engineering (SET) and allied specialisations. Prof Mshandete said relaunching of the Endowment Fund for Excellence was one of the strategies made to improve the funding mechanism from multiple sources for the university.
While the Tanzanian government has committed $60 million in capital development funds, grants and soft loans have been received from the development partners.
Other proposed sources of funding will be research and other grants sought through competitive proposals and operational funds from students fees.
There are also plans to roll out SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) Graduate Student Fellowship Fund as well as initiate pubic private partnership (PPP) ventures.
