Sokoine University of Agriculture
The Sokoine University of agriculture, popularly known as SUA is a mid-sized university with the main campus in the municipality of Morogoro which is about 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Dar es Salaam. It is named after the former Prime Minister of Tanzania Edward Sokoine who died in a car crash near Morogoro in April 1984.
SUA: Brief History
The Sokoine University of Agriculture started life as an agricultural college in
1964 before being elevated into a constituent faculty of the University of Dar es
Salaam, the oldest and largest University in Tanzania five years later. It is public
owned. In 1984, the faculty was spun off as an independent university specialising
in land and natural resources fields of study. It now has four faculties which are:
§ Agriculture;
§ Forestry and Nature Conservation;
§ Veterinary Medicine; and
§ Science
In addition, there are two institutes, namely the Institute of Development Studies and the Institute of Continuing Education.
SUA is a specialist university with the stated mission being “Management of natural resources for sustainable development and poverty alleviation”
Student Enrolment at SUA
As of 2008, there were a total of just under 3000 students enrolled in the four faculties of the Sokoine University. The majority of students come from Tanzania and countries of the SADC region in East, Central and Southern Africa.
There are 20 undergraduate degree programmes offered at the University, each lasting three years. This is with the exception of the B.Sc programme in Agricultural Engineering which lasts 4 years and Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVM) which lasts 5 years.
The University also offers postgraduate programmes up to a doctoral level.
There is around 330 academic staff, over two third of whom have doctoral degrees. The current Vice Chancellor is Professor G. Monella.
Research at the Sokoine University
Areas of research at the University have evolved over the years. The profile includes:
§ Soil and water management for crop and livestock production,
§ Technology transfer, adoption and agricultural diversification,
§ Small and large ruminant improvement for meat and milk production,
§ Food crops improvement including promotion of under-utilised indigenous crops,
§ Nutrition and family resources management,
§ Farming systems research,
§ Improvement and management of natural resources and plantation forests including economics, policy, harvesting and utilisation,
§ Livestock diseases and management of disease of public and economic importance in Tanzania.
Campuses of Sokoine University
Apart from the Main Campus in Morogoro; there are three other campuses constituting
the University. These are the Solomon Mahlangu Campus, formerly of South Africa’s
ANC, also in Morogoro; the Olmotonyi Campus in Arusha, Northern Tanzania and the
Mazumbai Campus in Lushoto, North Eastern Tanzania. In addition, the Moshi University
College of Cooperative and Business Studies has been incorporated as a constituent
college of the Sokoine University. As the name suggests, this is located in Moshi,
at the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in North Eastern Tanzania.
The main campus of Sokoine University of Agriculture is below the rolling Uluguru hills in Morogoro