When national politics meet student politics: exploring leadership development in Tanzania’s Universities
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Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Unversity of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
Young leaders of today in HEIs are nationally government leaders of tomorrow. They are, however, negotiating a complex reality wedged between their leadership outcomes developed by national political parties versus academic institutions. The study explored the influence of Tanzania’s national politics on student politics and the implications it bears on developing appropriate leadership growth of students in the university campus for national development. Using an integrated mix of research approaches and data collection methods and analysis, the study surveyed 110 students, conducted 10 key-person interviews and 6 focus group discusions accross 2 selected universities in study areas. These include the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Dodoma in Tanzania. The study found that although Tanzania is still transiting democratically, there is a disparity between leadership development at the national level and the lower levels of the society such as Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) where the leadership development system is yet to be entrenched. Findings of the study also found that the process of developing young leaders on university campus has now become a battle between political parties and the universities. This battle has been driven by political reforms implemented since 1990s. Although national university provides limits of political advocacy on campuses, they were also found to play very little role in mentoring students on university values and ethos as well as on the development of the leadership skills of their training. Students have in turn placed their trust on politicians rather than the academic community, and have ipso facto, become vehicles of the political contestations of national politics which often times are violent in character. The study ends by proposing several reccommendations for developing young leaders on campus in need of all-round educated leaders for the African continent.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF LB3610.T34D65)
Keywords
Students, Political activity, Higher learning institutions, Tanzania
Citation
Dominick, M. (2015) When national politics meet student politics: exploring leadership development in Tanzania’s Universities, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam