Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 2, No. 1 | M.L. Luhanga an interview, page 3

MLL: They want to get a degree and a job, really, which is understandable at this time. Tanzania is going through a tremendous transformation where the public sector, which used to be dominant, is dying. Actually, it’s being deliberately diminished by the government and the private sector is being encouraged to play a major role in the economy. So, we are changing as well, and encouraging our students, through the entrepreneurial activities of the university, to become what we are calling the job-creators and not just the job-seekers.

SK: Are the students hungry for information and motivated or simply anxious about the hunt for work?

MLL: We do not yet have full information about our students. But we have included most of those questions in a survey, which we are carrying out with the support of a Carnegie Corporation grant. We will survey all our graduates, in all our degree programs as well as the employers who have hired our graduates. We want to develop a better understanding of our students and of their needs and perceptions.

SK: Would you say that the students are politically active?

MLL: Some of them are politically involved and some of the crises we went through at the university, when the country was going from a single-party system to a multi-party system, were precisely because the students were becoming more politically aware, aware of their rights and responsibilities. I’ve been taken to court as vice chancellor on many occasions because students now know their rights, and they go to the high court to demand them. Some of the student leaders are members of parliament. One of them is a chairman in an opposition political party. One of them is a chairman of the youth wing of a political party.

SK: And do they have a sense that they are building a new country, a new Tanzania?

MLL: Yes, and that has been the unique thing about Tanzania. Julius Nyerere, our first president, always instilled in the youth the idea that we are building a nation, a self-reliant nation. Somewhere, I think, the message got blurred a little bit, but that sense is beginning to come back.

SK: Under your Carnegie Corporation grant you are installing “smart cards” on campus: plastic cards—like credit cards—that will give students access to many services. Tell me about them.

MLL: Right now, the smart cards project is mainly linked with our library system, but we also want to link the cards with our health system so there will also be health information about the students on the cards. Then we want to link them with what we call the academic registrar’s information system, so information on the academic performance of the students will also be included. Most of our students receive some type of support or sponsorship from the government. There have been complaints that the allowance the government gives students towards the purchase of books does not end up being used for that purpose. With the smart card system, you can control access so that the student cannot draw money out of the account, but they can use the smart card in a cash register machine at the book store to purchase books. So, with the card, you can put different controls on different accounts. This can even be done by a parent who can decide what amount of money to put into which account.

SK: Have you been able to establish the smart card project or is it still on the drawing board?

MLL: The project is not quite ready yet. We will be rolling out the smart cards with our first-year students, starting this September. Some of our students who graduated last year in computer science have been hired to develop some of the software for the system.

The smart card was actually displayed at the international trade show in Dar es Salaam this past July. Every year the university displays our research activities so the public will know what we are doing. This year, the university emerged as the overall winner of the exhibition. Tanzania’s many industries displayed their wares, but we came out first. The prime minister, the president of Tanzania, the president of Zanzibar, the prime minister and chief minister of Zanzibar, the first lady of Tanzania—all these dignitaries came and visited the smart card exhibit.

SK: So it has done much to enhance the university’s reputation?

MLL: Oh yes. The prime minister was especially impressed. And we have actually linked up with a local bank here which is interested in the smart card, so they’ve given us an office in town where we will be running our computer classes. They will be opening a branch in our university at the University Computing Center (UCC). In a limited way, they’ll be using the smart card, because this activity will be centered in the UCC. The bank is interested in trying out these cards for their customers.

SK: So here is an example of the partnership between business and the university that you beleive is critical for the future of education in Tanzania.

MLL: Yes. And it came out of the smart card project. We want the university to be an important part of the life of the country.

SK: How would you describe the reputation of the university?

MLL: I would say our reputation, currently, is very good, especially after having moved away from the ivory tower image that we had. Our reputation is very good with the people of Tanzania. We are always trying to reach out and be sure that the community knows what we’re doing.

SK: To survive, American universities must depend on tuition and they must depend on grants. Fundraising is a critical part of the work of a university president. Is this something that is part of your job as well?

Next page: We are always trying to reach out to the people of Tanzania, to be sure that the community knows what we are doing.

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