About National Council For Technical Education (NACTE)

About National Council For Technical Education (NACTE)

The National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) is a corporate body established by the National Council for Technical Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 9 of 1997). The Act provides a legal framework for the Council to  coordinate provision of technical education and training and establish an efficient national qualifications system that will ensure that products from technical institutions are of high quality and respond to changing needs as well as technological innovations in the world.

Technical education in this context is defined as “education and training undertaken by students to equip them to play roles requiring higher levels of skills, knowledge and understanding and in which they take responsibility for their areas of specialization”. NACTE is thus, a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral body empowered to oversee and coordinate the provision of technical education and training in Tanzania.

The Scope of the Council

The scope of NACTE covers all tertiary education and training institutions, other than Universities and their affiliated colleges, delivering courses at technician, semi-professional 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:

  • Regulatory Function: to establish the regulatory framework for technical education and training, leading to quality assured qualifications;
  • Quality Assurance Function: 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.

These three aspects are interrelated and together make up the core functions of NACTE; a process leading to quality assured qualifications in technical education and training in our country.

Vision

The Vision of NACTE is to realize 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

The Mission of NACTE is 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.

Objectives

The mission statement is translated into the following three main objectives:-
(a) To establish and operationalise policies, regulations and procedures for
setting and maintaining standards and quality of technical education and
training;
(b) To assist technical Institutions to achieve and maintain high quality of
education and training; and
(c) To advise the Government on the strategic development of technical
education and training.

Our 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.