15/04/2014
Establishing a National Network for Nuclear Education,
Science and Technology in Tanzania
United Republic of Tanzania has taken initiatives for establishing, a national nuclear network for education, science and technology,(TAN-NEST) taking into account the recommendations of the 1st AFRA-NEST General Assembly at the regional level, as well as results of a Consultative Meeting of Stakeholders in Tanzania at the National level. TAN-NEST will play a in helping to maximize the return on the government’s investment in nuclear technology research, training and education by promoting and sustaining key collaborative activities for infrastructure and human resources development as it has been recognized that developing countries in other regions could greatly benefit from the strategies and lessons learned from similar networking initiatives in other the region.It is hoped that the approaches reached by Tanzania will spark more interest in establishing national networks that can be applied to other countries as appropriate.
Nuclear technology applications have proven to be a catalyst for both social and economic development. It is therefore necessary to ensure that nuclear technology is deployed in various sectors of the economy in order to contribute to the national development. The Government of Tanzania recognize the potential of educational networking as a tool for improving education delivery, outcomes and impact, as evidenced through the national plans, policies and strategies. The Tanzania Vision 2025, the key national development strategy, recognizes the role of education as a strategic change agent for transformation of the economy to a knowledge economy; A simple model can be derived based on the involvement of government, academia, and industry. It is important that close cooperation among education, industry and government exists. This networking initiative also reflects the fact that a significant proportion of the nuclear applications workforce comes through the vocational route, from local/national training schools technical colleges and Universities. In order to support this endeavour, the role of government is to provide policies and funds to supporting the development and operation of industry and academia. The interaction of government policies with universities and industries must be acknowledged that government policy will have an overarching influence on the decision of universities to provide nuclear orientated courses.
Against this backdrop, it is therefore important to engage in training and capacity building in the area of nuclear technology. However, the nuclear technology education is expensive in terms of infrastructure and equipment. Therefore Tanzania created a national Technical Cooperation project (URT0006) in 2011 to establish a National Network for Nuclear Education,Science and Technology(which was later named TAN-NEST, following a Consultative Meeting of Stakeholders on 2-6 December, Arusha, Tanzania—cf. Section 5). It was originally envisioned to institutionalize pooling and linking of national resources by creating and sustaining links between research and development institutions, academic institutions, industries and users of research results as illustrated in Figure 2.1.