On Saturday 15 December the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) held its First Graduation Ceremony. This indeed was a major milestone for a University established just a couple of months ago! An MD or DDS course takes five years to complete, and since MUHAS does not have a two-months course, obviously no one was expected to be conferred a degree bearing MUHAS inscriptions. But alas, MUHAS held its first Graduation Ceremony, and more than five hundred students graduated on that day!
What is your opinion about this? Do you think the powers that be should have rolled-over students admitted to the University of Dar es salaam (in this case, MUCH), clear them out, and wait to hold a REAL MUHAS graduation, several years to come, and not on 15 December, 2007?
Pundits have argued about names and reputations of Universities, and how these have bearing on graduates when it comes to employment and other opportunities. What is in a name? Who knows MUHAS, still struggling to get on its feet? In an article titled “Graduates’ Transition From Study to Employment: A Study of the Arts and Agriculture Graduates of University of Nigeria in the World of Work”, Grace Akudo Anyanwu begins… “Transition from school to work is a crucial issue to fresh graduates, even though career decision is a lifelong process. According to Krumboltz (1979), career is a continually changing activity influenced by different factors…”
She goes on to say… “Observation suggests that employment opportunities for graduates are not mainly a function of the employment system and its requirement but also of the quantitative structural skill linkages. It has been noted as well that in many countries, the views and the reputation of certain institutions and departments influence the employability of their students. Hence, some institutions of higher learning try to maintain higher competitive edge for their graduates by including different professional experiences during the course of study, (Brennan, Kogan and Teichler 1996).” In one of concluding remarks, Anyanywu says… “The respondents’ perception of the five most important criteria for being employed were in a descending order, field of study, the major area of study, the reputation of the university, personality of the respective graduate, and the class of pass (grades). In addition, formal post-employment training was very minimal; most of the graduates either did not have any training at all or trained on-the-job.”
We know the reputation of the faculty at MUHAS, it is excellent, inarguably the best in the country. But MUHAS is yet to score any mark. Should it be given the honor to confer degrees just a few months after establishment? Is that fair?
In its 10 December 2007 edition, The Citizen writes “…Before the transformation to Muhas, graduating students used to be awarded University of Dar es Salaam degree certificates but they will now be getting those with the new Muhas logo now. This, according to Prof. Ngassapa, should all be cosmetic since the institution that trained earlier students who were awarded UDSM degrees is still the same”. The article goes on to say “Professor Ngassapa believes MUHAS graduates will have no problem at all securing jobs because most of them will be employed by government. It would be highly unlikely, he says, for government not to recognise them when Muhas is a government institution.”
What is your opinion? How Worth is Your MUHAS Certificate?
Let us go back to history. When the then Faculty of Medicine of the University of Dar es salaam was upgraded into the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences (MUCHS) in 1992, the MUCHS had her first graduation ceremony in December of the same year. The certificates issued however bore the logo of the University of Dar es salaam. It was however interesting (I can't find a more appropriate term), that a college should be staging graduation ceremonies without issuing certificates of her own, and one would wonder why these were not offered during the same gathering as those of other students in the parent university. However, there were advantages to this system in that the gatherings were less congested, so it was possible to give each graduand a better treat than they would receive if a larger group was graduating. The Chancellor of the University could personally confer the degree to each individual graduand, while at the Main Campus ("The Hill") the thousand or so first degree graduands had to be conferred rather "remotely", by simply reading out their names and "addressing" them as a group "Kwa madaraka niliyokabidhiwa nawatunukia....". Every time I look at my graduation photo, kneeling before the then Chancellor the Late Ambassador Paul Bomani, with him touching my head with his hat saying those words for which I had waited for more than five years at university to hear them said to me, I feel I'm special! I hope every one does. The other advantage of course, was that it served as a public relations exercise, to show to country and the world what MUCHS was doing, so the public could evaluate the growth of the college, the feedback to which would definitely pave way to full autonomy of the college. So it was a great idea, I would judge.
ReplyDeleteBack again in history, in 1970, when the then Dar es Salaam University College of the University of East Africa (Makerere) became the Uniersity of Dar es salaam, the first graduation ceremony followed in December of the same year. Before that, it had been a College of the University of London (1961-1963), a constituent college of the University of East Africa (1963-1970), and an autonomous University of Dar es salaam in August 1970. During all these phases, the institution held graduation ceremonies and conferred degrees according to the capacity it had at the time.
These issues of what is in a name also emerged in 1970. There are those who still took pride in being the so-called "Makerere stock", who thought a Dar es salaam or Nairobi qualification was inferior, while the earlier generation were proud of the "University of London" logo on their degree certificates. But as you will agree with me, it was only a matter of time before the University of Dar es salaam could establish itself with its own great name and pride, which students in its constituent colleges have always liked to identify with.
To sum up, a good name is MADE, not just simply written as a logo on a certificate. The MUCHS has had enough time to make impressions as a constituent college of the University of Dar es salaam, and it is that impression that will inscribe on how good (or bad) its name or reputation (or whatever you call it) is as an autonomous university. It is no longer operating at a level of a constituent college, so the criteria for evaluating it (and granting it the "name" or reputation) must also be elevated to suit its current status. We are no longer attributing MUHAS's successes or failures to the UDSM now, it is autonomous, whatever credit they accrue it is entirely theirs, and the failures are theirs too.
To answer the question "How worth is the MUHAS certificate", I am saying the MUHAS certificate carries the basic worth of a university certificate to begin with (that is why the MUHAS was allowed to exist in the first place), plus the worth of what is known so far about its predecessor, the MUCHS. In addition, MUHAS certificates carry an appreciative potential (potential to increased value) or a depreciative one (potential to decreased value), depending on the performance of MUHAS as an autonomous university. If in 10 years MUHAS produces the best doctors in East Africa, every MUHAS certificate will be a prestigious possession (regardless of the year it was obtained), and vice versa.
I hope this contribution gets us to somewhere.
Mine is a very short comment.Did any of us ever wondered how worth are our university of Dar es salaam certificates?...as far as local employement competition is concerned I am pretty sure one dont have even to think about it,it is the same for further studies plan to be taken in one of our local universities.To put it clear, by local I mean,employements and studies in TZ.Simply the art of recognising the quality of institutions one is coming from,does NOT exist in Tanzania.I mean,wheather you are from Havard,or IMTU it doesnt make any single difference when it comes to local employements.An 'A' or B students from IMTU will be admited for a masters degree dropping down a 'C' university of Dar es salaam student,a well known graduate from unknown, rather unrecognised university will be employed by the Ministry of health regadles of where he is from...You can see that,and what I mean for those who dont have a dream of crossing the border for greener pastures,they dont need to worry about their certificate,Tanzania is a nice place to be provided you have a certificate.
ReplyDeleteIts like what hapens with products,we have both low and high quality.
But for my friends who want to have a bit tour outside the borders,for sure you need to consider the quality of your institution,I mean that matters a lot.With MUHAS,I have the confidence that the name is everywhere no matter the changes. MUCHS is pretty much known and famous all over Europe and the US,through its fantastic collaborative research works it has with highly reputable institutions like Havard and KI.The good thing as Beatus said,MUCHS creted its reputation as MUCHS and not UDSM about 5 yers back,and most of people knows it is the same MUCHS which changed to MUHAS...actualy I get mostly corrected by people from different countries by mentioning MUCHS instead of MUHAS.So dont scare the Guys...they've got it,
Never mind my bad English...its all because I am learning some swedish.
the comments of the two predecessors have said it all. I could not agree less. I think it is a sensitive issue as it puts our colleagues in a suspense as to how will they be recognised out there. But certainly time will tell whether MUHAS will claim its position as being a center of excellence in the region. I think we should agree and allow changes to take place, we hope for the better. It is however very difficult to accept changes abruptly. I agree with what professor Ngassapa had said that it is the same trainers who will be producing the degrees and so the change in logo on the certificates is just cosmetic.
ReplyDeleteI beg to submit.
Hamisi Kigwangalla