University of Dar es Salaam

The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university. It is the oldest and biggest public university in Tanzania established on 1st July 1970, through parliament Act no. 12 of 1970. Prior to 1970, the university college, Dar es Salaam had started on 1st July 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London.

The UDSM envisions at ‘becoming a reputable world-class university that is responsive to national, regional and global development needs through engagement in dynamic knowledge creation and application’. The mission of the university is stated as ‘the unrelenting pursuit of scholarly and strategic research, education, training and public service directed at attainment of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development of Tanzania and the rest of Africa’. The core functions of UDSM as reflected in the mission statement are:

1. Teaching and Learning;
2. Research and Innovation; and
3. Knowledge Exchange.

The University offers various academic programmes leading to the award of certificates, diplomas, and degrees. It has a total of 4 Certificates, 3 Diplomas and 65 Undergraduate Degree Programmes offered in different academic units.  The number of students admitted at the University of Dar es Salaam has been increasing steadily, from 14 in 1961 to 21,502 (13,641 male and 7,861 female) undergraduate degree and non-degree in the 2011/2012 academic year. Female students constitute 36.5% of all undergraduate students at the University of Dar es Salaam. In research, the UDSM is envisioned to be a place of conducting interdisciplinary, multi/trans-disciplinary research by scholars, namely academic staff and students, through research institutes/centres that are formed by different research groups from diverse university departments or other institutions working on broadly defined research themes and/or in partnership with the private industry.