The contribution of overseas scholarships to the high-level Manpower requirements in Tanzania

The purpose of the study was to find out the contribution of overseas scholarships to the stock of high-level manpower in Tanzania from 1961 to 1974. The study focused on the contribution in terms of percentage, field of specialization, types of qualification, and sex distribution, types of qualification aspects, it also surveyed government policies which directed overseas agents adhered to them or not. The data in the study was collected through the survey of relevant ministerial reports, manpower surveys and staff circulars. The student population studied was divided into two groups. The first group included all those who were enrolled by the Ministry of National Education, the main training agent, for degree and diploma courses in institutions outside East Africa. The data for this student population was the main centre for the discussion. The other group consisted of students returning from overseas, employed by the Ministries of National Education, Agriculture and by the University of Dar es Salaam as a parastatal. Those institutions were treated as case studies to provide a picture of the actual absorption of overseas graduates. Although it had been assumed that overseas scholarships had not contributed adequately to high-level manpower, the results of the study indicated that the strategy contributed a substantial portion. It also served the science more than the arts fields and provided more holders of first degrees and diplomas than of higher degrees. This pattern conformed to government training policies. The government did not merely use the policies to guide and train overseas scholars, but also offered incentives to encourage students to return home and participate, with their locally trained counterparts, in the development of different sectors of the economy. The study finally reached the conclusion that although the trend of sending students overseas was decreasing, overseas scholarships would continue to be a viable strategy for training Tanzanian high-level manpower. But as a matter of long-range policy the numbers should be reduced, and training limited to locally unavailable skills, until such a time that Tanzania would become self- sufficient in training institutions and in manpower.