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The minister for East African Cooperation, Dr Diodorus Kamala, has expressed government satisfaction on the progress recorded in the construction of the Aga Khan University.

The new university, which will cater for students from across East Africa, is being built at Manyara Estate, a suburb of Arusha City.

Speaking after inspecting the ongoing construction, Dr Kamala said he was pleased that the work has been going on as planned.

He said construction of the university is a demonstration of the growing relations and cooperation among East African Community (EAC) member states.

He asked other investors to think of putting their money in the education area, which has great growth potential.
The minister said that there were a lot of financial institutions which were ready to provide loans to finance investments in the education sector.

“When I was in Uganda I learnt that the East African Development Bank has extended loans for construction of secondary schools and universities. This is a challenge to us because the private sector is yet to apply for such loans,” he said. “I thank the Aga Khan for the decision to invest in the education sector by constructing this world class university,” he said.

Dr Kamala said that if members of the private sector decided to seek loans to invest in the education sector it would be a boost to the country’s development endeavours.

He said if the private sector invested in the building of new universities, there was a great possibility of pushing up the number of student enrolment and this would translate into improved education standards in the country.

He further said that there was a need to emphasise on the construction of new universities as the country has a very low number of students enrolled in higher learning institutions compared to other countries in the region.

“We have many Tanzanians enrolled in private universities in Kenya and Uganda. In East Africa Tanzania is the country with the smallest number of students at university level,” he said.