The development of a research culture in Tanzania’s higher education system

Fussy, Daniel Sidney (2017) The development of a research culture in Tanzania’s higher education system. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The study reported in this thesis investigated approaches which the higher education sector in Tanzania employs to develop a research culture, and explored views on how to improve the research capacity within Tanzanian universities. A qualitative-multiple case study informed by interviews, focus group discussions and documentary review methods facilitates the data collection process. Six research sites including the Ministry of Education, the Tanzania Commission for Universities and four leading universities were involved in the study. Purposive and stratified sampling techniques were used to recruit participants from the group of senior government officials, senior university leaders, academic staff members and postgraduate students. The selected Stufflebeam’s CIPP framework guided the conduct of the study, as well as the discussion and interpretation of the findings.

The findings show that the Tanzanian higher education policy context has feasible policies and plans that support the development of research in the country’s universities. However, the higher education policy context lacks proper mechanisms to engender practical development and the monitoring of research. Moreover, the approaches used to develop research, although reported to improve institutional research profile, were found to be less demanding in enforcing the research culture. The findings also identified factors essential in building a research culture, such as research training, research mentoring, research funding and research incentives, which serve as a framework for universities and researchers across Tanzania, Africa and the world, to guide their decisions and actions towards promoting successful research cultures.
The study, therefore, concludes that Tanzania needs to develop a deep-seated research culture within its higher education system to improve the production and application of knowledge, and eventually realise the National Development Vision 2025 that the country envisages, to advance from ‘less developed’ country status into a respectable ‘middle-income’ country. In so doing, the study recommends a reform of the national higher education policy to bridge the gap between policy articulations and implementation on the ground.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Professional Learning and Leadership
• Supervisor's Name: MacMahon, Professor Margery and Forde, Professor Christine
• Date of Award: 2017
• Depositing User: Dr Daniel Fussy
• Unique ID: glathesis:2017-8360
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 24 Aug 2017 09:32
• Last Modified: 12 Oct 2017 07:50
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/8360