ACADEMIA FAIR 2004 - COLLEGES CHAPTER

Open forum on Higher Education & Quality Colleges Exhibition

Lets meet, exhibit and discuss Quality High Education opportunities in Tanzania. Lets exhibit the available college programs for the benefit of seekers of higher education.

Prospective college students have a right to opt for the most ideal course for their career development. In the absence of comprehensive college information students' talents get misdirected.

The scanty information available leads to unnecessary scramble to few popular courses leaving other equally important programs for less competitive candidates.

THE QUALITY COLLEGES EXHIBITION

Justification

• All college courses are important for national development.
• All colleges wish to enroll competent students.
• For successful studies a student ought to pursue a course of his/her choice.
• There is competition for best candidates so long as there are many colleges with numerous courses. .
• Each college has a different academic performance history, training facilities, learning environment, staff capabilities, etc which are important parameters for informed choice by prospective students. .
• Costs of various academic programs differ .

That is why the Colleges Chapter of Academia Fair 2004 is vital for all Quality Colleges recruiting Tanzanians.
During this unique Higher Education Fair, confident colleges will display their academic programs and promote their courses to prospective students and their parents.

At this open forum of interaction among education stakeholders, providers and seekers of higher education will exchange vital information. Colleges will present their academic and extra curricular capacities and programs.

Education seekers will meet various providers under one roof, which greatly facilitates their career planning and choice of professions.

Local Colleges

This exhibition is ideal for all serious Tanzanian colleges admitting students on completion of formal education.
These include universities, colleges, vocational education colleges, professional course providers, government colleges, computer colleges and any institutions of higher learning. Colleges may exhibit all their programs under the institute or decide to promote few specific courses depending on their needs.

Professional Boards and Associations.

Students in Tanzania are very ignorant of most of the professional boards and associations that exist. Participation of these boards and associations to exhibit their registration requirements, professional examinations and relevant career details would facilitate development of the professionals and attraction of ideal candidates.

Here we are referring to boards and associations for all professions like Accountancy, Lawyers, Engineers, Building Contractors, Surveyors, Doctors, Architects, Journalists, etc. At this forum participatory institutes would get an easy platform to promote the relevant functions.

Foreign Colleges.

Many Tanzanian students aspire to pursue higher education abroad but such decisions require detailed information including prospectuses, course fees, boarding facilities, scholarships, visa facilitation, learning environment etc.

At this event foreign colleges are invited to exhibit all the relevant facilities and make presentations to pass on the information to students and their sponsors. Under one roof these prospective beneficiaries will find it easy to make relevant decisions.

Other stakeholders.

This event provides a unique opportunity for other education stakeholders to exhibit their quality services to the sector.
These include educational goods and services suppliers, NGOs, donors, Youth development organisations etc.

OPEN FORUM ON HIGHER EDUCATION.

A three days forum will avail all stakeholders in Higher Education a chance to freely discuss and review salient matters affecting deliverance of quality education to Tanzanians. The following topics will be discussed during the forum:

1. The Tanzanian Higher Education Policy - Rights and obligations of stakeholders.
2. Coordination and control of standards and Quality of Education in Higher Learning Institutions.
3. Students Crisis in Higher Learning Institutions..
4. Gender Issues in Higher Learning Institutions - Priorities and balance of opportunities. .
5. Language of Instruction: English / Swahili.
6. Development and Financing of Higher Education - Graduate, Postgraduate & Research. .
7. Vocational Education for skills development and self-employment. Information and Communication Technology in Higher Learning Institutions. .
8. The Employability of Tanzanian graduates.
9. Effective planning to pursue Higher Education.

BENEFICIARIES.

Parents and Guardians

It is usually the person incurring the cost of education who will want to ensure he or she reaps the most.
In some cases parents or guardians after paying school fees and other costs of education do not bother to make a follow-up to ensure their children get the rightful value for their money so spent.

In most such cases it is because they do not have the parameters necessary to make meaningful assessment of the required quality standards.
They cannot make correct comparisons among the available options. They need to guide their children for ideal courses for preferred careers.

Students

The eventual beneficiaries of quality education are students. The fair will provide the necessary information for an informed choice among various opportunities.

Academic Institutions.

The success of academic institutions is gauged, among other things, by the successful performance of the students.
In the current competitive era of a free market economy it pays to attract the best students in rightly chosen courses. This event will attract serious aspirants to exhibiting colleges.

ACTIVITIES AND FAIR PROMOTION

A number of issues concerning institutions of higher learning are ignored and therefore this is a great opportunity to discuss them during the open forum.

These include government policies, college administration, education politics and students' participation, improving students' academic performance and the lecturers' contribution etc.

These and other sensitive higher education issues will find room of free and fair discussion a report of which may help to improve quality education in Tanzania.

In addition to the open forum and participants' exhibitions there will be special activities at the fair carefully tailored to enhance a harmonious conduct of the fair in order to achieve the eventual goal of promoting quality education.

Promotion and publicity.

The secretariat will aggressively sensitize the public to visit the fair in large numbers. Various promotional campaigns will be made to inform the public about the importance of the fair in order to attract as many serious participants and visitors as possible.

The various methods that will be employed include TV advertisements, Radio advertisements, Print media advertisements, Posters, Brochures, letters, banners, stickers, physical visits to participants, TV programs, public road shows and advertisements before the fair dates etc.

The media will extensively cover the three days fair for general public information. Fair organisers will assist participants who need specific media coverage.

Sponsorship

Sponsors will be approached to facilitate the success of the fair. We shall invite general major fair sponsors and specific event sponsors.
As a variety of awards will be given, we shall approach many sponsors to give out awards to colleges and individual students or lecturers and teachers who have excelled in various curricular or extra-mural activities including discoveries, inventions, examinations and other school or social activities.
Sponsors and exhibition participants will receive certificates to be presented at the closing ceremony by the Guest of Honour.