Earth Science Education in Tanzania

Abstract

In Tanzania, the earth sciences are only taught at the University of Dar es Salaam, in the Department of Geology. The Department was founded in 1974, acquired its first Tanzanian staff in 1975 and produced its first graduates in 1977. Now the Department is completely run by Tanzanian staff and about 25 Geology students graduate annually. The Department offers B.Sc., M.Sc. (taught and by research) and Ph.D. degrees. Students enter the University after 13 years of schooling, thus, upon completion of A levels. Currently, about 30 students a year are admitted to the Geology course, of whom about five will fail to complete. Normally, only 5 to 10% of the undergraduates are women. Currently, most students obtain employment with exploration and mining companies. The Department has dedicated laboratories for teaching and research and has several items of analytical equipment. There are 15 academic staff, most with Ph.D.s, many of whom were trained in the 1980s and 1990s in Germany and Finland through collaborative training programmes. Current research projects are funded by Sweden, the Netherlands and the Tanzanian Government.