DAR ES SALAAM: Tanzania is ramping up investment in technical education as it seeks to tackle land disputes, urban expansion and a growing housing deficit, with a 36.2 billion shilling ($13.9 million) upgrade at Ardhi University (ARU) highlighting the strategy.
The near-complete expansion, backed by the World Bank-supported Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) programme, is expected to significantly boost the country’s capacity to train specialists in land management, construction and urban planning—sectors seen as critical to economic development.
Lawmakers say the project goes beyond infrastructure, signalling a shift towards producing job-ready graduates equipped to handle real-world challenges in fast-growing cities and rural land systems.
“This is not just about buildings; it is about strengthening practical skills that the economy urgently needs,” said Husna Sekiboko, chairperson of parliament’s education committee, after inspecting the campus.
The project includes workshops, laboratories, classrooms and a design studio, with capacity to accommodate nearly 7,000 additional students. Once operational, the university expects its total enrolment to more than double to over 14,000.
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Officials say the expansion will help address long-standing bottlenecks in land administration, including boundary disputes, double allocations of plots and slow urban planning processes—issues that have increasingly affected investment and development.
Education Minister Adolf Mkenda said the government views skills development as central to improving productivity and competitiveness.
“The expansion will produce graduates who are better prepared for the labour market, both domestically and internationally,” he said.
The initiative also reflects a broader push to align university training with labour market demands, particularly in sectors such as real estate, infrastructure and environmental management.
ARU plans to introduce new programmes in data science and artificial intelligence, signalling an effort to combine traditional technical disciplines with emerging digital skills.
Vice-Chancellor Evaristo Liwa said the use of in-house expertise, including university quantity surveyors, helped ensure quality and cost efficiency in delivering the project.
For Tanzania, analysts say, the investment underscores a growing recognition that infrastructure development must be matched by human capital especially as urbanisation accelerates and demand for serviced land and housing continues to rise.