Moshi co-op college now full-fledged varsity for EA

Arusha. It began in the 1960s as Cooperative College. About a decade ago, it was transformed into the Moshi University College on Cooperatives and Business Studies (MUCCoBS), a constituent college of the Sokoine University of Agriculture (Sua).

Now it has been elevated to the Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU), a full-fledged institution of higher learning but with an added status of being a Centre of Excellence in Cooperative and Business Management in East Africa.

The Centre of Excellence was officially launched by the secretary general of the East African Community (EAC), Dr Richard Sezibera, on Friday with a call for full support from stakeholders to enable it play its role effectively.

“This is a memorable feat not only for the University but the entire co-operative sector in the East African region,” he said at the launching ceremony held at the university on the outskirts of Moshi.

Dr Sezibera said after a rigorous screening of various institutions in the region it emerged that the Moshi-based university met all the criteria to be made a centre of excellence in cooperative studies. “The EAC Secretariat was satisfied, beyond doubt, that this University is truly a centre which is relentless in the pursuit of continuous improvement in both the results and the way the results are achieved,” he said.

He reiterated that EAC’s motivation to create centres of excellence was aimed at shaping a common vision and building mutual trust and understanding around the region, adding;

“The primary objective was to identify institutions that are capable of developing and strengthening innovating approaches aimed at providing top quality training and education.”

He disclosed that a total of 25 applicants from all the EAC member-states participated in the selection process. But, only four applicants (including MoCU) from Tanzania were able to go through.

Dr Sezibera said the process was guided by a number of principles and criteria that included: results orientation, partnership development, leadership and constancy of purpose, management by processes and facts, target/clientele focus, public responsibility, people development involvement, and continuous learning, innovation and improvement.

The EAC partner states, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda and other stakeholders are expected to make use of the expertise, which the Centre is endowed with.

“The challenges that face the co-operative sector in our member-states are very apparent, through joint efforts with the Centre, we are likely to address satisfactorily most of these challenges”, he affirmed.

He pledged the Community’s continued support to MoCU as it strives to attract scholars interested in Integration Studies from within and outside East Africa thereby providing them with the opportunity to study the successes and efforts in region integration.

The launching of the EAC Centre of Excellence in Co-operative and Business Management coincided with the 9th graduation ceremony of the Moshi Co-operative University which 2,193 graduands receiving certificates in various disciplines.