The National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) was established by Act of Parliament Cap. 129 to oversee and coordinate the provision of technical education and training in Tanzania. Technical education and training in this context is defined as:
“Education and training undertaken by students to equip them to play roles requiring higher levels of skills, knowledge, understanding and attitudes/ethics and in which they take responsibility for their areas of specialization.”
This scope of NACTE covers all tertiary education and training institutions other than universities and their affiliated colleges, delivering courses at technician, semiprofessional and professional levels leading to awards of certificates, diplomas degrees and other related awards.
The mandate of the National Council for Technical Education as derived from Cap. 129 is three fold and may be summarized as below:
- RegulatoryFunction: to establish the regulatory framework for technical education and training, leading to quality assured qualifications;
- Quality AssuranceFunction: to assist technical institutions to improve and maintain the quality of the education they provide and to ensure that their programmes meet labour market demand, by guiding and monitoring their adherence to the regulatory framework; and
- Advisory Function:to advise both Government and technical institutions on the strategic development of technical education and training can be made.
The key issues that NACTE is required to address include, to:
- Register and accredit both public and private technical education and training institutions capable of delivering courses;
- Register technical teachers (teaching staff in technical institutions);
- Ensure that the quality of education required for the NACTE awards is met and maintained throughout the duration of the delivery of the course (monitoring and evaluation);
- Ensure the relevance of technical education and training to labour market demand;
- Institute systems of quality control and quality assurance in technical education and training; and
- Maintain databases on technical education and training, which will serve as a source of information needed by the Government and other stakeholders for strategic development of technical education and training in Tanzania.
Vision
To establish a well-organized efficient and effective system of national qualifications and excellence in the delivery of technical education and training, and the resulting output.
Mission
To establish and operationalise policies, regulations and procedures for setting and maintaining standards and quality of technical education and training and advising the Government on the strategic development of the sector.
Basic Objectives
The mission statement is translated into the following three basic objectives:
- To establish and operationalise policies, regulations and procedures for setting and maintaining standards and quality of technical education and training;
- To assist technical institutions to achieve and maintain high quality of education and training; and
- To advise the Government on the strategic development of technical education and training.
The guiding theme for the National Council for Technical Education is “Striving for world class excellence in technical education and training”.
Core Values
NACTE’s employees are guided by the following core values:
- Upholding professional standards and moral ethics;
- Ensuring stakeholders participation in NACTE operations;
- Commitment and self-motivation towards achieving NACTE’s goals;
- Objectivity, transparency and public accountability;
- Social responsibility; and
- Judicious application of ICT.
Business Philosophy
The National Council for Technical Education is cognizant of and fully accepts its responsibility of contributing significantly towards the realization of the Tanzania vision 2025 which envisages Tanzania to be a nation with high quality livelihood; a nation which produces the quantity and quality of well-educated people sufficiently equipped with requisite knowledge and skills to solve the society’s problems, meet the challenges of development and attain a strong and competitive economy. These aspirations of our country can be realized, to a greater extent, with the availability of a technical education and training system, which the Council is endeavoring to establish, capable of producing a critical mass of high quality technicians and professionals required to effectively respond to and manage development challenges of our nation at all levels.
Principal Activities
Principal activities and services of the Council as stipulated under section 5 of the National Council for Technical Education Act are to:
- Register and accredit technical institutions capable of delivering courses;
- Register technical teachers and other qualified technicians;
- Establish and make awards in technical education and training which are consistent in standard and comparable to related awards in Tanzania and internationally;
- Ensure that the quality of education required for the awards is met and maintained throughout the duration of the delivery of the course;
- Assist technical institutions in their development by introducing and developing policies and procedures that will allow institutions to attain greater autonomy in the delivery of courses;
- Advise the Government on the planning and development of technical education and training including matters relating to manpower planning, staffing, budgetary and capital provision, the efficiency of the sector and the development of the curriculum;
- Review technical education and training policies from time to time in the light of changing technologies and economic development;
- Accept in partial fulfillment of a course of the study leading to the Council’s awards such periods of learning and training as it may recognize as being equivalent in outcome to that award;
- Assist technical institutions in the transmission of knowledge, principles and training in the field of technical education and training for the benefit of the people of Tanzania;
- Assist technical institutions in the overall development of the quality of education they provide and to promote and to maintain approved academic standards;
- Co-operate with other bodies and organizations for such purposes as the council may from time to time; deem to be appropriate to achieve its objectives;
- Advise the Minister on grant of autonomy to any accredited technical college;
- Appoint the members of its Constituent Boards and Committees;
- Appoint moderators for all validated courses leading to the Council’s award;
- Receive income and undertake expenditure as may be necessary or appropriate for the discharge of its functions; and
- Introduce any measures and procedures which may be necessary for the furtherance of the objectives of the Council.