Abstract
The academic profession in developing countries faces numerous challenges that affect its effectiveness and sustainability. I explores these issues using Tanzania as a case study, with the aim of shedding light on the structural and systemic factors impacting higher education in similar contexts. Employing a qualitative research methodology, I draws on documentary analysis and in-depth interviews to generate both new insights and a synthesis of existing knowledge. Key findings indicate that the academic profession in Tanzania is confronted with several persistent systemic and structural issues: insecurity of academic tenure, academic brain drain, insufficient staffing, low academic qualifications, and diminishing academic freedom. These challenges affect both academic performance and the quality of higher education in the country. The study is limited by its geographic scope, focusing solely on Tanzania, and by the scarcity of existing literature on the topic, which constrained broader comparative analysis. Nonetheless, the findings have significant implications for university leadership and policymakers. A nuanced understanding of these challenges is essential for developing targeted strategies to strengthen academic capacity and improve the quality of higher education in Tanzania and other developing contexts. Notably, this research fills a gap by offering both practical and policy-oriented recommendations based on empirical evidence.
Plain Language Summary
This paper examines the challenges facing the academic profession in Africa, focusing specifically on Tanzania. The study uses interviews and reviews of existing documents to gather data for analysis. The main challenges found to affect academic profession include job insecurity for academics, a migration of skilled academics and researchers (i.e., brain drain), a shortage of academic staff, low recognition of academic achievements, and reduced academic freedom. The paper notes that there is little research on these issues, especially in Tanzania, and calls for more emperical studies in other countries. The findings suggest that university leaders in developing countries, like Tanzania, need to work together to address these challenges to improve the quality of higher education and support the academic profession.
Background
The academic profession is unique, complex, diverse, and increasingly competitive, particularly in an era of knowledge economy that has consequently resulted in major reforms of higher education (HE) systems in most parts of the world. In the last several decades, this profession has, in most parts of the world, undergone major reforms, especially with the introduction of New Public Management (Arimoto, 2014; Hong & Horta, 2025; Kwiek, 2018; Massey, 2017; McCarthy et al., 2017; Portnoi, 2015). The advent of New Public Management in academia has had a significant impact on academics generally since it causes them to lose control over their jobs by isolating them from the traditional academic culture (Bleiklie et al., 2016; McCarthy et al., 2017). Some existing scholarly works (see e.g., Mgaiwa & Kapinga, 2021) indicate that for both new and well-seasoned academics, working at complex and distinctive institutions like universities presents a variety of challenges. Market Reform Policies (MPR), which have been implemented in the majority of HE systems and increased competitiveness for academics working in these systems, are of particular relevance. While most academics are universally trained to PhD level, the work environment in which they work is complex and also poses a variety of issues ranging from a lack of academic freedom to a lack of security of tenure, which ultimately leads to job discontent (Mgaiwa, 2021a). Generally speaking, the issues facing the academic profession are a result of economic, social, cultural, and political factors. Therefore, the nature of issues facing the academic profession in Africa may be relatively different from those facing the profession in Europe and America, so does from those in Asia and Latin America.
The academic profession in developing countries such as those in Africa faces relatively similar challenges but not the same to those in Asia and Latin America. For example, existing evidence (see e.g., Bredtmann et al., 2019; Fussy, 2017; Immurana, 2022; Odhiambo, 2013) indicates that Africa is one of the regions with high brain drain. According to scholars (e.g., Chege, 2009; Odhiambo, 2013), the African brain drain is linked to hostages of academic freedom by administrative hierarchies, poor infrastructure and facilities, lack of funding, and a lack of effective leadership. The 2013 survey by the OECD and the UN, it was discovered that one in nine professionals with postsecondary degrees who were born in Africa worked and resided in OECD nations (Fussy, 2017).
Despite the growing body of international literature (see, for example, America Gérard & Lebeau, 2023; Hermanowicz, 2011; Labinger, 2017; Metcalfe et al., 2016), Asia (Arimoto et al., 2015; Chou, 2021; Dan & Fengqiao, 2015; Tang, 2022), Australia (Oishi, 2017; Welch, 2021), Europe (Brennan et al., 2017; Langørgen et al., 2020; Locke & Bennion, 2012; Ryttberg & Geschwind, 2017), and Africa (Amani & Komba, 2016; Habib et al., 2008; Hokororo & Michael, 2019), the challenges facing the academic profession in Tanzania remain poorly documented and empirically underexplored. As a result, there is limited contextual evidence to guide institutional leadership and national higher education policy. This gap poses a significant barrier to informed reform and sustainable development within Tanzanian universities. The aim of this study is to explore and critically examine the major institutional, professional, and political issues confronting the academic profession in Tanzania. The study further seeks to understand the implications of these issues for university governance and the sustainability of the academic workforce. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to provide an empirical account of the challenges that shape the experiences of academics in Tanzanian universities. Specifically, the study seeks to identify key institutional and systemic challenges facing the academic profession in Tanzania.
While in other countries, regions, and continents the salient issues facing the academic profession are well documented, the situation is different in Africa and Tanzania in particular. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine issues facing the academic profession in Tanzania. The key question that this particular study endeavoured to answer was, “What are the key institutional, professional, and political challenges facing the academic profession in Tanzanian universities today?” By answering this question, the current study contributes to both scholarship and practice in three important ways. First, it provides empirical, cross-institutional evidence on the realities of academic life in Tanzania based on data from four universities. Second, it helps contextualise broader global debates about the academic profession by focusing on a low-income, resource-constrained setting. Third, the findings aim to inform national policy discussions and institutional leadership about the reforms needed to strengthen academic capacity, reduce brain drain, and enhance the sustainability of the academic workforce.
Following this opening section, the rest of the article is ordered as follows: While literature review present literature related to the topic of academic profession, the theoretical framework discuss the neoliberalism and academic capitalism theoretical lenses and the Methodology section describes the methodological components employed to explore the research issue. The findings and discussion are presented in Findings and Discussion sections, respectively, and considering the findings from this study, the conclusion, limitations, and agenda for future research are discussed in the conclusion section.
Literature Review
Academic Profession in Africa: An Overview
Undeniably the academic profession has received particular attention in almost every region of the world, with studies ranging from academic mobility, academic brain drain (Chou, 2021; Lawan Ngoma & Wana Ismail, 2013), security of tenure (Castellacci & Viñas-Bardolet, 2021; Waltman et al., 2012), funding, work environment of academics (S. J. Mgaiwa, 2021a; Shin & Jung, 2014), academic freedom (Habib et al., 2008; Ngirwa et al., 2014; Stockemer & Kim, 2020). Therefore, in this section, a critical discussion of the related literature on the issues around the academic profession in Africa is discussed.
One of the pressing concerns, and probably not peculiar to African academia alone, is the lack of academic freedom in African universities. The concern of academic freedom is not new in African higher education owing to the continent’s democracy’s rocky history (Appiagyei-Atua et al., 2016). Since after the political independence of the majority of African countries in the 1960s, academic freedom has been one of the serious concerns facing the academic profession at African universities. Although academic freedom is supposedly a non-negotiable, moral requirement of the university (Davids, 2021), literature has cited numerous African nations, including Ghana (see e.g., Appiagyei-Atua et al., 2016; Sarpong et al., 2020), South Africa (see e.g., Habib et al., 2008; Olsson, 2023), Zimbabwe (see e.g., Laakso, 2020), Ethiopia (see e.g., Assefa, 2007; Degefa, 2015), Uganda (see e.g., Asiimwe & Steyn, 2013), Kenya (see e.g., Meroka & Ojwang, 2018; Sifuna, 2012), Botswana (see e.g., Laakso, 2020; Taylor, 2006), and Tanzania (see e.g., Chachage, 2008; Ishengoma, 2018; Mmari, 2008), for academic freedom infringement, just to mention a few. Despite the fact academic freedom is a problem of many African universities, some scholars (see e.g., Appiagyei-Atua et al., 2016) argue that academic freedom has returned to African universities after it was almost completely eradicated.
Academic brain drain, which is closely associated with academic mobility, is the other significant issue facing the African academic profession. According to a 2013 survey by the OECD and the UN, one in nine professionals with postsecondary degrees who were born in Africa were employed and residing in OECD nations. Although academic mobility is said to save universities from academic inbreeding, it has opened the door for African academics, including those from Tanzania, to work in developed countries in search of better opportunities (Anokye et al., 2019) with little possibility of academics from the Global North working in the Global South. This is partly due to African universities’ limited ability to recruit high-calibre academics from developed countries owing to relatively unattractive compensation packages (Ombogo, 2023). Despite the fact that there is no comprehensive data on the number of skilled workers that many African nations have lost to the developed world (Odhiambo, 2013), it is undeniable that a sizeable proportion of academics do so. While sub-Saharan African countries have a limited number of academics, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), yet the few available still migrate to developed countries. Some scholars (see e.g., Kasper & Bajunirwe, 2012) have cited international workforce policies, funding for more people to receive in-country training, and partnerships between academic institutions from both resource-rich and resource-poor nations as some of the potential remedies to brain drain in Africa. Existing studies point out that many countries in Africa, such as Nigeria (Adeosun & Popogbe, 2021; Anokye et al., 2019), Kenya (Odhiambo, 2013), Botswana, Zambia (Noyoo, 2017), Ghana (Kato & Dadson, 2016), South Africa (Gwaradzimba & Shumba, 2010; Kaplan & Höppli, 2017), Uganda (Kizito et al., 2015) and Tanzania (Ishengoma, 2007b; Juma et al., 2012) face brain drain.
Connected to the reason for African brain drain and academic freedom is security of tenure for academics working in African universities. For instance, a study by Samuel and Chipunza (2013) found that attrition and brain training in South African universities were substantially correlated with academics’ security of tenure. More significantly, some studies (see e.g., Pienaar & Bester, 2009) have cited the development of job security as one of the remedies to the exodus of academics from African higher education and their retention. Moreover, some academics’ job tenures were terminated as a result of their criticism of the incumbent governments and their universities. For example, the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) fired 16 foreign academics and 5 domestic lecturers for criticising government policies in 1977 and 1979, respectively (Ngirwa et al., 2014).
Another major problem for the academic profession in African universities is a shortage of qualified academic staff and low profiles. For instance, Kyaligonza and Kamagara (2017) observed that there are not enough academics in Uganda due to high turnover rates, which are brought on by unfavourable working conditions, such as low economic motivation. Similar acute resource shortages are occurring in universities in Malawi and South Africa due to massification policies that have boosted student enrolment relative to available academic staff (Kobla et al., 2018). As such, Salmi et al. (2017) also noted in their review that due to recent reforms in higher education, particularly in the last decade, there is a shortage of qualified university faculty in Ethiopian universities, particularly in the fields of science and technology. Shortage of academics is also an issue in Kenyan higher education (see e.g., Munene, 2013; Sifuna, 2010; Wangenge-Ouma, 2008). Odhiambo (2013) proposes the establishment of useful links that Kenyan academics in the diaspora could use to effectively connect to their home country on a temporary engagement basis and to lessen the shortage of qualified academic staff in Kenyan universities. Similar to other African nations, Zambia has an acute shortage of qualified university staff at PhD level. For instance, just 49% of academics employed by universities in Zambia hold doctoral degrees; the remaining 51% are master’s degree holders (Kulyambanino, 2016). Overall, the problem of faculty shortage is partly a result of faculty brain drain and the rapid rise in student enrolments owing to massification policies in the last decade. Generally speaking, these transformations are largely shaped by regional and global policy shifts, including the widespread adoption of massification policies, increasing reliance on performance-based funding models, and reduced public investment in higher education across African nations (Langa, 2014; Sawyerr, 2004). These trends reflect broader neoliberal influences that have reshaped the academic profession globally and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where systemic underfunding, managerial reforms, and political encroachments have significantly altered the working conditions and autonomy of academics (Cloete et al., 2015).
The Academic Profession in Tanzania: Issues and Challenges
Since there were no universities in Tanzania before the early 1960s, the academic profession there, as may be the case in many other African nations, may be considered young in comparison to that of Europe, Asia, and America, having only existed for five decades or so. Basically, there are two main groups of academics in Tanzania: those who work for public universities (PUs) and those who work for private institutions (PRUs). Scholarly evidence indicates that, as of 2018, Tanzania had a total of 6,635 academics (TCU, 2018). While this number is small, given the 259,266 students in Tanzanian universities reported for this year, about 4,345 (65.5%) of total academics work in the country’s 14 PUs, while the remaining 2,290 (34.5%) of total academics work in its 36 PRUs (TCU, 2018). Generally, the university student-teacher ratio in Tanzania is very high, given the massification policies introduced in recent years. This suggests academics may be challenged by low motivation due to large class sizes.
Although the relevance of issues facing the academic profession in Tanzania through scholarly research is scant. Existing scholarly empirical studies in HE suggest a paucity of research examining issues facing the academic profession. Existing scholarly empirical research in HE suggests a dearth of studies looking at issues facing the academic profession in Tanzania. A few previous studies (see e.g., Amani & Komba, 2016; S. J. Mgaiwa, 2021a; Mkumbo, 2014) all examined some of the issues facing the academic profession but in isolation. Therefore, the present study, through both documentary evidence and interviews, endeavoured to comprehensively examine cross-institutional evidence on the issues facing the academic profession. This paper, therefore, aims to contributes to several aspects of the academic profession. First, it argues for university leadership to reduce or avoid employing academics temporarily or on contracts. By so doing, they will not only strengthen job security and increase academic career prospects for permanently tenured academics but also will make the academic profession a progressively attractive sector of employment with less or no employee turnover. Second, to have a well-serving faculty in the academic profession, university leaders should endeavour to recruit more academics with PhDs (i.e., academics in senior academic ranks such as lecturers and professors). Third, university management to improve the academics’ work environment that supports academic freedom and increases job satisfaction. By so doing university management will be able to address the issues of academics’ brain drain and turnover intention.
Theoretical Framework
I framed this study within the broader theoretical lenses of neoliberalism and academic capitalism, alongside social comparison theory and critical theory. My choice of these theoretical lenses is based on the fact that they elucidate the influence of institutional, professional, and political forces on the conditions of academic tenure, freedom, faculty profiles, and brain drain in Tanzanian universities.
Neoliberalism and Academic Capitalism
Neoliberalism denotes a collection of political-economic practices emphasising market principles, competition, efficiency, privatisation, and managerial oversight in areas typically regulated by professional and public-interest standards (Olssen & Peters, 2005). Neoliberalism in higher education is evident through performance metrics, contractual employment, reduced job security, and the pressure on academics to conform to external funding sources or market demands, rather than focusing solely on scholarly or social objectives (Croucher & Lacy, 2020; Dougherty & Natow, 2019). Closely related to neoliberalism is the concept of academic capitalism, which refers to the trend in which universities and their constituents increasingly pursue revenue generation, entrepreneurial activities, and market-orientated relationships, often compromising traditional academic values (Eren, 2025; Filippakou & Williams, 2014). In the context of academic capitalism, academic labour is commodified, leading to incentives or pressures for faculty to generate quantifiable outputs.
Social Comparison Theory and Critical Theory
On one hand, social comparison theory, originally developed by Festinger (1954) offers a psychological framework for analysing how individuals in academia evaluate their well-being, satisfaction, and professional identity in relation to their peers. Therefore, this theoretical lens elucidates the emotional and psychological ramifications associated with disparities in tenure, employment status, and academic rank. Critical theory, on the other hand, facilitates an analysis of the ways in which power, governance, and ideology influence the frameworks that limit academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and the academic profession. This analysis reveals the intersection of political authority, legal frameworks, administrative policies, and cultural expectations in suppressing dissent, regulating research and publication, and constraining the academic’s role as a critic (Harland et al., 2010; Morley, 2024). Critical theory emphasises the necessity of analysing not only the events occurring but also the beneficiaries, the disadvantaged, and the mechanisms of power at play.
I integrate these lenses to interpret my findings as indicative of systemic transformations in higher education, rather than as isolated experiences or conditions. Neoliberalism and academic capitalism elucidate changes in employment practices, the valuation of academic output, and institutional expectations. Social comparison theory accounts for the effects of these changes on individual well-being. Critical theory provides a framework for critiquing the structural and political forces that limit freedom and agency.
This theoretical framework informs my examination of the insecurity associated with academic tenure, brain drain, insufficiently qualified academic profiles, and the decline of academic freedom. Broadly, these frameworks are pertinent to my findings regarding the insecurity of academic tenure (contractual/part-time vs. permanent full-time), erosion of academic freedom (government control, restricted publication and speech), brain drain (academics departing for improved compensation or conditions), and insufficient scholarly profiles. The transition from stable, secure jobs to more unstable employment aligns with neoliberal managerial principles emphasising flexibility, cost efficiency, and external accountability (Croucher & Lacy, 2020; Stephenson Jr & Zanotti, 2019).
Methods
The present study adopted a qualitative descriptive research design rooted in thematic analysis, drawing from both documentary reviews and interviews with academics from four Tanzanian universities (i.e., two public and two private) to elicit issues facing the academic profession. A qualitative research approach was deemed most appropriate for the present study due to the exploratory and interpretive nature of the research questions, which aimed to investigate the lived experiences, perceptions, and institutional challenges faced by academic staff in Tanzanian universities. Qualitative research is particularly suited to studies seeking to understand complex social phenomena within their natural settings (Creswell & Poth, 2016), which aligns with the present study’s focus on issues such as academic tenure, brain drain, academic freedom, and the adequacy of academic staff. A purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit participants with relevant experience and institutional knowledge, which is consistent with best practices in qualitative research (Palinkas et al., 2015).
Thematic analysis was chosen because it allows for the identification, analysis, and interpretation of patterns of meaning (themes) across qualitative data (Braun & Clarke, 2006), making it appropriate for exploring the complex and multifaceted experiences of academics in Tanzanian higher education institutions. I do acknowledge the fact that each study participant of the present research has subjectively assorted work experiences since they have incomparable perspectives (Merriam, 2009). Therefore, a qualitative research approach was deemed suitable because it prioritises the depth and richness of subjective experiences, making it ideal to examine context-specific issues surrounding the academic profession in the Tanzanian HE system. As such, face-to-face interviews and document analyses were used to collect data as part of a multi-method approach with the goal of potentially providing a genuine account through data triangulation. This triangulation enhances the credibility and trustworthiness of the findings by drawing on multiple sources of evidence.
Interviews
To reveal the participants’ lived experiences and comprehend the world from their point of view, interviews has emerged as one of the most popular techniques (Cohen et al., 2017; Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009). Therefore, in the present study, semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with academic staff to allow flexibility while still targeting key research themes. This method allowed the researcher to gain deep insights into informants’ perspectives and contextualise their responses within the Tanzanian higher education (HE) landscape (Table 1).
Summary of Participants’ Demographics.
Document Analysis
The researcher’s understanding that data for studying a particular issue (i.e., challenges facing academic profession in Tanzania for this case) may be sourced from different data sources, there were two reasons why documentary analysis was chosen for the current study.
First, it assisted in spawning educational insights concerning the background in which this research was carried out. For instance, the overview of Tanzania’s academic profession landscape. This kind of information was aimed at helping readers comprehend the actual context in which academics work in Tanzania. Second, the study aimed to verify interview results to triangulate data, promote authenticity, and reduce bias in the study's conclusions. It is important to note that the document review in this study included some staff statistics, not for inferential or quantitative analysis, but rather as descriptive data to support the interview findings.
Participants
Purposive sampling (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) was used to select 12 participants whose profiles reflected Tanzania’s higher education (HE) academic landscape in terms of gender, discipline, and academic rank. Nationally, 24.6% of academics are female and 75.4% male; 26.4% hold doctorates, 47.7% master’s degrees, and 21.1% bachelor’s degrees (TCU, 2019).
Inclusion criteria were work experience (minimum 5 years), academic rank, gender, and primary discipline. Participants came from both public and private universities, representing natural and social sciences, with 6 to 15 years of experience and ages ranging from 34 to 52. Interviews explored their views on challenges facing the academic profession and its relation to core university functions—teaching, research, and public service. One example question was: “In your experience working as an academic member of staff, what challenges/issues does the academic profession face in relation to university core functions of teaching, research and public service?”
Procedures
Before beginning the data collection exercise, the researcher obtained research ethics approval number AB3/12(B) from the University of Dar es Salaam, where he was then an academic member of staff. For the case of documents, initially, the documents were accessed and evaluated for quality against the inclusion criteria as sources of data. For ensuring that quality data is obtained, we employed two criteria for the inclusion of the documents for review: (a) official documents describing the state of the art of the academic profession and the state of higher education in Tanzania available in the public domain and (b) journal articles from refereed journals on the issues facing the academic profession. Although the use of publicly available policy and institutional documents is generally exempt from formal ethical review, ethical considerations were observed by ensuring the confidentiality and appropriate use of sensitive information contained within these documents. Furthermore, permissions were sought where necessary, and all sources were properly cited to maintain academic integrity and respect for the originating institutions.
Documents such as journal articles, government reports on the state of the art of higher education in Tanzania, the Universities Act 2005, doctoral dissertations, the Tanzania Higher Education Policy, Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics reports on education and particularly higher education, and political documents related to education were used to generate data on the issues facing academia in Tanzania. Some of these documents (e.g., journal articles, educational policies and TCU reports) were obtained online via institutional websites at the time of data collection (e.g., Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Tanzania Commission for Universities, University of Dar es Salaam, Facts and Figures, Ruaha Catholic University, Saint Augustine University of Tanzania and the University of Dodoma), while others (e.g., doctoral dissertations and newspapers) were obtained from the university library (Table 2).
Summary of the Types of Documents Reviewed, Sources, and Purpose in This Study.
Data Analyses
The research data gathered from interviews and document analyses were subjected to a thematic analysis (TA) in accordance with Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six analytical stages. The stages comprises of becoming acquainted with the data, generating preliminary codes, identifying themes, reviewing those themes, defining and labelling those themes, and generating a report (Braun & Clarke, 2006). As a result, careful adherence was maintained throughout the entirety of the six-step data analysis procedure. To generate written text, the audio-recorded data from the interviews were initially transcribed verbatim. More importantly, to reconcile contradictory data with the analysis’s emerging conclusions, categories were revised at this stage (Richards & Morse, 2012).
Similarly, thematic analysis was also used as an analysis method for data collected through document analyses. Thematic analysis, according to Gökçe (2006) and Merriam (1998), evaluates the content of documents in order to identify themes that are present throughout the texts. Specifically, a systematic approach was employed to find common patterns/themes in the documents. In the current study, analysis of documents involved reviewing all documents critically, identifying common themes in light of the current study’s objective. The relevant themes/findings from documents were then merged with those from interviews. To ensure efficient and perceptive data analysis, the researcher participated in all phases of thematic analysis for the purpose of this research. Overall, the data analysis revealed several recurring themes that indicate issues facing the academic profession in Tanzania. These themes are detailed in the subsequent section.
Transferability of Findings
This qualitative study aims for transferability rather than statistical generalisability—applying findings to similar contexts (Guba & Lincoln, 1994; Tisdell et al., 2025). Detailed descriptions of the institutional setting, participants, and study context support this. The sample reflects Tanzania’s academic landscape across gender, discipline, rank, and university type (TCU, 2019). Using document analysis and interviews, the multi-method approach enhances both credibility and relevance to institutions facing similar structural and professional challenges (Patton, 2014; Yin, 2018). While context-specific, the findings address widespread issues—brain drain, tenure insecurity, staff shortages, and academic freedom—across sub-Saharan Africa. Rather than universal generalisation, the study offers a framework for understanding and addressing challenges in comparable low-resource environments (Bassey, 1999; Flyvbjerg, 2006).
Findings
The analysis of both qualitative data and documentary review revealed four main issues facing the academic profession, namely, academics’ brain drain, erosion of academic freedom, low academic profiles, security of academic tenure, and low number of academics and their profiles. Therefore, these issues have implications for university management in the study of universities and beyond. The following sub-sections present the findings of each of the issues facing the academic profession, backed up by both tables and excerpts epitomising participants’ articulations.
Security of Academic Tenure
One of the achievements for academics in their careers is to secure a desirable and secure academic tenure. Academic tenure has been conceptualised by scholars as a system of strong job security that warrants that the job of an academic member of staff will not be terminated in nearly all circumstances. The main idea of academic tenure is to give academics the freedom to speak up freely without fear of reprisal of any kind from their employers or the state. Some studies (see e.g., Bender & Heywood, 2006; Castellacci & Viñas-Bardolet, 2021; Hong & Horta, 2025; Waltman et al., 2012) show that the security of tenure for academics influences their job satisfaction. Scholarly existing research (e.g., Waaijer et al., 2017) further shows that a weaker academics’ job security and deterioration of career prospects have a potentially critical negative effect on academics’ job satisfaction and well-being.
In the case of Tanzania, the tenure of academics in public universities (i.e., PUs) and private universities (PRUs) differs significantly. Even though both PUs and PRUs are managed by the state, what makes the difference is the type of tenure of employment (S. J. Mgaiwa, 2021a). For instance, all academics with PhDs in PUs work on a full-time basis with permanent and pensionable conditions, with the exception of those in training jobs, while their counterparts in PRUs primarily work under contractual terms. According to the study’s documentary assessment, PRUs had a higher percentage of part-time lecturers than PUs did. Table 3 indicates the status of tenure for academics in both PUs and PRUs.
Academics’ Employment Status and Ownership.
Source. TCU (2019).
Documentary review (see Table 3) indicated that 7,701 (92.7%) of all faculty members in PUs and PRUs were tenured on a full-time basis, while 403 (4.9%) of the total population of academics were tenured on a part-time basis and 188 (2.3%) were tenured on a contractual basis. Disaggregating the data by university type (i.e., PUs and PRUs), the findings showed that PRUs had 382 (12.5%) of the total faculty population working on a part-time basis and 116 (3.8%) working on short-term contract terms. A review of documents further revealed that 98.2% (N = 5,152) of the total faculty in PUs were tenured on a full-time basis. At the same time, only 0.4% (N = 21) of the total academics in PUs were tenured in contract terms. Overall, PRUs are 31 times more likely to have part-time academics than PUs. This trend echoes findings in recent international studies demonstrating increasing use of contingent or non-tenure-track faculty under neoliberal pressures, such as in the United States, where contingent appointments (part-time and full- or non-tenure-track faculty) now constitute nearly 68% of the academic workforce, coinciding with declines in full-time tenured positions (Stein, 2023). Part-time employees were present in both PUs and PRUs, according to documentary evidence, but in interviews with academics from both public and private universities, most participants said that non-permanent academic tenure (contractual) and part-time tenures made academics feel that their employment was insecure and were therefore likely to have interfered with a number of personal and life plans. As an illustration, a participant from university “X” had the following to say about security of tenure:
For me, I would say to non-permanent academic tenure makes me more vulnerable to performance pressure and social comparison effects, which are crucial at the intermediate stages of my academic career. (Academic staff X4, University X)
Applying social comparison theory, academics compare their status, job security, and terms of employment with peers in PUs or in other countries, and those with more stable tenures tend to be socially valued and report greater satisfaction. Critical theory helps us see the institutional and political power structures that allow PRUs to adopt precarious employment terms with less oversight or resistance, often justified by market logics and budget constraints linked to neoliberal reforms (Oliveira et al., 2025). Similar sentiments on the negative impact of non-permanent employment contracts in academia were expressed by another participant from University “V”:
Yes, I work on a temporary contract, but this is not something I would prefer. Having a temporary job contract for me it is risky because it makes it difficult to plan a personal and family life, e.g., may increase mobility and chances of looking for jobs in other cities or countries, which may affect not only job satisfaction but also life satisfaction. (Academic staff V3, University V)
Arguing in light of the social comparison theory, one of the participants from university “Z” proffered the following on the effect of temporary jobs:
[…] I would argue that temporary job tenure results in lower well-being than permanent jobs for academic members of staff. In other words, we academics on temporary job contracts feels less secure and satisfied with our academic profession compared to our colleagues with permanent and pensionable job contracts. (Academic staff Z1, University X)
Generally, the foregoing accounts suggest that comparatively, both part-time and non-permanent tenured jobs have negative effects on academics’ job satisfaction, well-being, and life satisfaction. According to the remarks from the participants, non-permanent/full-time tenure generally gives the impression that academics feel less secure in their positions since they cannot guarantee contract renewal because renewal is up to the employer’s discretion.
Academics’ Brain Drains
Scholars (see e.g., Bairu, 2014; Benedict & Ukpere, 2013) have categorised brain drain into two typologies that is, in-country or domestic brain drain and external brain drain. While the former refers to the in-country or domestic movement of specialists or experts/professionals, the latter refers to the movement of specialists or professionals from one country to the other or one continent to the other. Although there are fewer statistics on the migration of academics alone from developing to developed nations, existing literature (see, for example, Lawan Ngoma & Wana Ismail, 2013; UNESCO, 2007) indicates that skilled immigrants from developing countries, particularly from African and Asian countries, are migrating in greater numbers to developed countries. Some scholars (see e.g., Chand, 2019) expressed pull factors (i.e., better living conditions, career opportunities and better salaries) as well as push factors (i.e., lack of infrastructure, poor-quality institutions, nepotism and corruption) in the country of origin (COO) to account for brain drain of the highly educated population from developing countries including from Africa.
As in many developing countries, the nature of the academic profession in Tanzania is characterised by a high brain drain owing to work-related stress and a poor work environment (Fussy, 2017). For example, scholarly shreds of evidence from documentary review (see e.g., Amani & Komba, 2016) revealed that 72 academics at the University of Dar es Salaam and its two constituent colleges terminated the university appointment within 5 years, without giving clear reasons for their decision. Further documentary review (Hokororo & Michael, 2019; Nyahongo, 2015) indicated that at the University of Dodoma, between 2009 and 2013, a total of 102 of 840 academics left the university appointment either by resignation or termination. During interviews, many participants noted that social comparison (between permanent vs. contract, public vs. private, and local vs. international peers) intensifies their dissatisfaction. For example, one academic at University Y said:[…] in my view the major problem is unequal opportunities between developed and developing countries in terms of research funding, prospects for career progression, and working environment evidenced by differentials in pay and academic freedom and institutional autonomy (Academic staff Y3, University Y).
Similarly, another participant from university X commented on two issues that made his best friend leave their university and join one of the universities in Scandinavian countries in 2021. Such issues he mentioned include an unfriendly work environment, including the poor quality of decisions made by some university leaders.
I think our work environment is not friendly and supportive enough. […] for example, in 2021, one of my best friends left the university appointment for one of the Scandinavian counties only three years after completing his PhD at one of the top universities in Asia owing to poor decisions demonstrated by his immediate supervisors regarding his promotion. (Academic staff X3, University X)
One senior professor from University “V” remarked that the high remuneration in politics has caused several academics to leave their university appointments and enter politics while elaborating on the causes of the academics’ internal brain drain.
I think […] that politics particularly in developing countries is more paying than academia by far. Owing to this, in our country we have witnessed many university professors and other senior academics who left university appointments and joined political careers for securing better pay. (Academic staff V1, University V)
Similar to this, at university X, another participant noted that inadequate funding, particularly for research, and low possibilities for promotion were some of the factors that led some academics to resign from their positions and enter politics or other, better-paying careers outside of academia.
With the dwindling research funding in recent years that limits research and publications, it is hard to climb the academic ladder to professorial rank; hence, some academics opt to join politics, where it is more paying than academia. (Academic staff X3, University X)
Another senior academic staff member at university “Y” cited presidential appointments as one of the distinctive causes of internal brain drain. He also mentioned other factors that were similar to those mentioned by other participants, including good salaries in politics, Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), and non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs):
Although I cannot tell the exact number of staff from our college who has left the university appointment, most of them left the university for three major reasons; presidential appointments to serve in ministerial posts, joining politics and others joining non-state organisations such as UNICEF, UNESCO and other high paying organisations. (Academic staff Y1, University Y)
At university Z, one senior member of the academic staff expounded on the unstable pool of academics owing to academics who leave university appointments.
As you know, employment of senior academics in most fields in the current world of work is not easy. We always employ junior academics such as teaching assistants whom we then train for a doctorate. This is challenging because when a senior member leaves the institution and you replace with a TA who will be in training for a long period (Academic staff Z2, University Z).
The excerpts above and some documentary pieces of evidence suggest that both internal and external brain drain exist among academics. As such, imbalances in career opportunities, work environment, and pay are major reasons for academics terminating their pro jobs in Tanzania. Although brain drain is not a problem in Tanzania alone, it has been pointed out as one of the factors creating a high shortage of academics in both public and private universities in many developing countries. What seems to be a new phenomenon to many developing countries, which is different from developed countries, is the reasons for brain drain and its severity. While the overarching reasons for brain drain in developing countries are security, poor leadership, and economic reasons, the reasons for brain drain in developed countries are centred around the economic reasons alone, especially when they offer unique expertise in developing countries. African countries alone, for example, are estimated to spend around US$ 4 million yearly for expatriate perks and consultancy fees (Fussy, 2017). Of particular interest is the higher severity of brain drain in developing countries such as those in Africa, Asia and Latin America with limited academics and researchers, who perform poorly in research and development compared to developed countries (cf., UNCTAD, 2014; UNESCO, 2015).
Further documentary evidence (see e.g., Hokororo & Michael, 2019) shows that domestic brain drain among universities is common in Tanzania since many academics move from academic jobs to non-academic jobs or emigrate, particularly from one country to the other. By nature, normally academics emigrate from low resource countries (i.e., developing countries) to high resource countries (Amani & Komba, 2016). Ideally, the aim of most professionals who emigrate from low-income countries to highly developed countries is to secure paying jobs that could in turn benefit the host countries economically. Citing insights from recent scholarly work, a study by Kadikilo et al. (2024) highlights a shift in the dynamics of brain drain within Tanzanian academia. One participant in the study observed:
Previously, we were talking about the brain drain of academic staff migrating to other parts of the world. However, now we have an internal brain drain, whereby most of the senior academic staff go into politics—some by being appointed, and others [do so] willingly.
The quote from Kadikilo et al (2024) offers a critical insight into a shifting pattern of academic brain drain in Tanzania. Traditionally, the concept referred to the external migration of academic staff—especially highly qualified and experienced ones—to more developed countries in search of better pay, research opportunities, or academic freedom. However, the participant highlights a new and arguably more complex internal dynamic, which they term “internal brain drain”. Existing pieces of evidence show that OECD countries are one of the blocks in which immigrants with at least higher education from developing countries work and live. For example, according to the United Nations and OECD’s report of the year 2013, 11.1% of African-born professionals holding at least higher education were working and living in OECD countries (OECD, 2008). While brain drain is not unique to developing counties like African countries alone, the severity and scale of brain drain in developing countries suggest it affects such countries both economically and in the volume of knowledge production by researchers (cf., UNCTAD, 2014; UNESCO, 2015). While most developed countries appear to be the receiving countries of professionals from low-income countries, including academics from developing countries, it is estimated that developed countries host about 60% of professionals from developed countries (OECD & UN-DESA, 2013).
Adequacy of Academics and Their Scholarly Profiles
Employing qualified and productive academics presents a challenge that many universities face in many countries, including developed ones. Although the availability of qualified academics relatively differs from developed to developing countries, the latter is more challenged by limited and qualified academics in various academic ranks. The time invested in preparing them for doctoral degrees and moving them up the academic ladder to professorial rank is probably to blame for this. The government of Tanzania froze academic employment in public universities in the 1990s, according to findings from reviews of documentaries. Thus, there is a gap between the academic generations that emerged before and following the hiring freeze. As a result, the academic generation that existed prior to the government’s employment freeze is ageing, with many professors continuing to work under contract terms after retiring. Since most qualified academics prefer to work in public universities due to the high pay and security of tenure, most private universities are unable to hire them at higher academic levels like senior lecturers and professorial ranks (Ishengoma, 2004).
Notwithstanding the recent initiatives to hire more academics, both public and private universities continue to struggle with a lack of skilled academics. But compared to public universities, the issue is more prominent in the latter. Due to the wage differences between public and private universities and the lower security of tenure at private universities (PRUs), PRUs typically struggle to recruit and retain excellent PhD graduates as faculty members. As a result, most PRUs have resorted to employing retired academics from public universities and others without PhDs. For example, S. J. Mgaiwa and Ishengoma (2017) observed critical challenges in terms of academic qualifications in four private universities they surveyed. Further, most of the academics in both private and public HE institutions are characterised by low academic ranks with a very small number at professorial ranks. For example, as recently as 2019, the figures from the documentary review show both PUs and PRUs had only 2,197 academic and technical staff with PhD qualifications. Table 4 presents the summary of academic staff and their education qualifications as of 2019.
Academic Staff and Education Qualifications in Tanzania’s Universities.
Source. TCU (2019).
Table 4 above suggests that a large proportion of academics in Tanzanian universities have lower education/academic qualifications than those with qualifications. For example, while the TCU’s guidelines indicate a doctorate as the minimum education qualification for teaching at a university level, only 26.4% of the total population of academics had doctorate degrees as of 2019, while those with master’s and bachelor’s degrees cumulatively constituted 68.8% of the total population of academics. As such, 5.0% of total academics (mostly technical stuff) had qualifications less than a bachelor’s degree. As of 2024, there has been relatively little change in academic qualifications. The proportion of academics with PhD degrees increased from 26.4% in 2019 to 34.2% in 2024 (TCU, 2024, p. 74). Meanwhile, those holding master’s and bachelor’s degrees collectively made up 65.8% in 2024, a slight decline from 68.8% in 2019 (TCU, 2024, p. 74).
Furthermore, the documentary reviews carried out in this study show that the profiles of academic staff (i.e., teaching assistants, assistant lecturers, assistant professors/lecturers, associate professors, and full professors) are skewed towards low academic ranks. For example, the ongoing World Bank–funded Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) project in Tanzania highlights the shortage of qualified academic staff as a key challenge. According to the project report:
Due to a wave of age-related retirements and the recent recruitment of talented lecturers into positions within the Government, there are limited university lecturers, particularly in STEM areas. The proportion of academic staff with a master’s degree is 51.6 percent, while instructors with a PhD account for only 32.6 percent of the total teaching staff. (World Bank, 2021)
As another example in the last decade until recently, the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s oldest, second largest and the country’s flagship university, has been dominated by junior academics, with 60% to 70% falling below the rank of a lecturer and more than 70% of their university professors working after their retirement (Fussy, 2017). Table 5 highlights the number of academics in both PUs and PRUs and their academic ranks.
Number of Academics by Rank in Tanzania’s HE Universities.
Source. TCU (2019).
Generally, Table 5 shows that most of the faculty in PRUs are in the lower academic ranks. For example, in private universities, the lower academic ranks of teaching assistants and assistant lecturers accounted for about 72.3% of the total academics in PRUs, whereas those in higher academic ranks (i.e., associate professors and full professors) cumulatively accounted for only 5.6% of the entire population of academics working in PRUs. Similarly, in public universities, the problem mirrors the same picture as that of PRUs, albeit with a relative numerical advantage in the higher academic ranks. For example, academics in the lower academic ranks (i.e., teaching assistants and assistant lecturers) in PUs accounted for 62.5% whereas those in the higher academic ranks (i.e., associate professors and full professors) cumulatively accounted for only 11.8%. The findings largely lend support to the world development indicators, where Tanzania has an average of only 18 full-time equivalent researchers per million people (Lange et al., 2018).
These findings have implications for both the quality of higher education and the management of education. Considering the low calibre of the bulk of academics and the few available academics about, the teeming numbers of students in the country’s universities might affect the quality of education offered by both PUs and PRUs. From a management perspective, the shortage of academics and their low qualifications indicate that Tanzanian universities lack effective strategic succession plans and proper human resource planning, compounded by insufficient mentoring to support academics’ career advancement.
Deterioration of Academic Freedom
One of the major ongoing challenges in Tanzania’s academic profession concerns constraints on academic freedom and autonomy. Over the years, as may be the case in some African countries, there have been elements of government control in universities, due to the state’s fear of being challenged by the academic community. Regulated public academic debate and the establishment of censorship laws in recent years that restrict the use of statistics are the two most common examples of violations of academic freedom. For example, as recently as 2018, the government amended the Statistics Act 2015 (URT, 2018) to restrict the use and publication of statistics without government approval. This amendment not only constrained the freedom of individual researchers and institutions but also may have resulted in producing poor-quality research, as the requirement for prior approval can discourage critical inquiry, insentivise self-sensorship, and delay or prevent the dissemination of findings that may challenge official narratives or policy positions. It may, further affect research independence and objectivity, as well as opportunities for research collaboration with foreign research organisations (Malanga, 2018). Previously, in one renowned case, 5 local and 16 overseas academics were sacked with prejudice from the University of Dar es Salaam for criticising government policies (Ngirwa et al., 2014). Similarly, in 2016, Twaweza’s Executive Director (i.e., a non-governmental organisation meaning “we can make it happen” in Swahili), had, his travel documents confiscated and his citizenship questioned by the government following his institution publishing popular poll results that revealed that the incumbent president’s approval rating had dropped from 96% in 2016 to 55% in 2018 (Materu, 2018). Quoting a well-seasoned and prominent Tanzanian law scholar at an Academic Freedom Conference held in Dar es Salaam, The Citizen—one of East Africa’s leading newspapers—reported the following:
The government is always uncomfortable when universities are independent. You should look at how every curriculum must go through TCU [Tanzania Commission for Universities]; yet we have our own department and council […]. These are some of the things that suppress academic freedom. (The Citizen, 2025)
Another case of a threat to academic freedom is a the President’s speech at the University of Dodoma (UDOM), which appeared to target critical academics in HEIs. Specifically, while giving his speech at the UDOM, the president was quoted as having remarked the following:
There is one professor here at UDOM who is pro-opposition (mtu wa vyama), I told him to pack and go and never to come back again. You cannot insult me when I pay your salary. (Dar24 Media, 2017)
While this statement of his excellence the president may present a clear warning message to other critical academics from HE, in the same year, 2016, evidence from other sources reported the arrests and trial of one academic member of staff in one of the public universities in the northern highlands of Tanzania who was alleged to have posted/published “seditious” material on social media (FIDH and Legal and Human Rights Centre, 2017; Mwafongo, 2016; BBC, 2017).
Of particular interest, is the increased red tape in securing research ethics approval for academics as a means to monitor and limit publications of research results which may appear to be critiquing the government. For instance, documentary evidence showed one particular case in which a team of four researchers from one of the Tanzanian HEIs were offered research ethics approval that allowed data collection but restricted them from publishing their findings and only allowed them to use such data for institutional purposes alone: “takwimu zitakazokusanywa ni kwa ajili ya matumizi ya ndani ya taasisi hiyo na siyo kwa ajili ya kuchapishwa na kusambazwa” (literally, data collected shall be for institutional internal use and not for publication and dissemination).
Extracted from a research permit issued by the President’s Office-Regional Administration and Local Government to a group of university researchers in early 2019. Due to its sensitive nature, specific information about the permit cannot be disclosed to protect the researchers.
Such practices offend the right of academics to research and even to report their findings independently without external influence. Such incidents suggest that academic freedom is at a trying time, and this may affect not only academics in HE but also weaken the academic profession and its role in the state (Taylor, 2019).
Although the situation of academic freedom might have changed under new presidential leadership in recent years, the legacy of prior leadership, including the existing legal framework, continues to undermine academic freedom. During interviews with academics in the studied universities, academics confirmed that the landscape of academic freedom has changed owing to repressive legislation. This has affected their academics’ job satisfaction, research independence and integrity, as well as collaboration with international research collaborators. For instance, one of the participants made the following comment about the repeal of the Statistics Act and its impact on the academic field:
[…] while academic freedom is critical in our research, the new statistics law is not friendly for researchers as it restricts the publication of some statistical findings. In my view, this affects the freedom to research and also may affect international collaboration with international researchers. (Academic staff Y3, University Y)
Another academic staff member from university Z made the following comments regarding how critical academics are living in dread as a result of the reported arrests and trials of some academics and critical regular citizens who were accused of publishing or posting “seditious” content on social media.
Owing to some past events regarding the arrest of one colleague in one of the universities charged with publishing seditious materials on What-sap social media, there is too much fear among academics especially to criticise the government. (Academic staff Z1, University Z)
Similarly, another academic member of staff with vast experience in higher education had this to say during interviews.
It is surprising to see these unprecedented incidences of creating fear among university lecturers for doing their basic role. For me […] with my vast experience in academia, the introduction of repressive laws, arrests and trials of academics are a danger to the survival of academia. (Academic staff X3, University X)
Overall, the existing challenges to academic freedom may affect the quality of education, academics’ work environment and job satisfaction, which might curtail not only their productivity and performance but also may cause an increase in academic turnover as well as brain drain (De Wit & Altbach, 2021). These findings land to support the existing studies on long-established shreds of evidence of some governments targeting critical academics by reproaching, firing, torturing, imprisoning, or even assassinating some for their viewpoints of critiquing government policies (De Wit & Altbach, 2021; Fatunde, 2016; Ngirwa et al., 2014; Teferra, 2007). As public intellectuals, one of the key roles of academics is to enquire about and challenge the economic, social, and political problems affecting their societies (Fussy, 2017). Of particular interest is the fact that academics oftentimes use their power of expertise in questioning and criticising policies of the incumbent governments in their respective countries. Accordingly, the culture of questioning or challenging government policies about political, social, and economic issues by the university academics is bearable, especially in democratic countries which support academic freedom, but considered intolerable in most countries devoid of democracy because such a practice of questioning the status quo is regarded as a threat, and when governments are challenged by academics will mostly tend to respond with draconian techniques to the independence of pursuing core academic concerns without external interference.
Discussion, Theoretical Contribution, and Practical Implications
Discussion
Using Tanzania as a case study, the current study examined issues affecting the academic profession in African countries. The discussion of the findings emanating from this study is structured similarly to that of the findings section around four major themes: security of academic tenure, academics’ brain drain, inadequately qualified university faculty and deterioration of academic freedom.
Security of Academic Tenure
Another urgent problem that has been identified in the current study as affecting Tanzania’s academic profession is a lack of security of tenure. As indicated in Table 1, a sizeable portion of universities have employment contracts with terms between 3 and 5 years, and this is more apparent in PRUs than in PUs. These contracts are typically renewed at the employer’s discretion. Some academics may choose not to exercise their academic freedom out of fear that they may be denied an extension of the contracts when their work contracts expire because employers are not compelled to disclose the reasons for declining a contract renewal. Therefore, university policies that support the security of tenure and academic freedom will aid in having effective checks and balances on university undertakings, thereby ensuring the safety of the academic workforce. Additionally, the issue of security of tenure might be connected to the deterioration of academic freedom. For instance, academics who are dismissed from their jobs for criticising the government’s policies, as is the case in the literature (see e.g., Ngirwa et al., 2014) or left willingly due to insecure jobs (see e.g., Samuel & Chipunza, 2013) are likely to perceive their job as not secure for them to work.
Academics’ Brain Drain
This study also found that brain drain is a serious issue affecting the academic profession in Tanzanian universities. Furthermore, the academic profession was affected by both internal and external brain drain, even though the study could not conclusively determine whether in-country or external brain drain was more common. For instance, in the case of in-country brain drain, the majority of academics would quit academia and work in non-academic fields such as politics or other positions that pay more than academia. In the case of “external brain drain”, there are also pieces of evidence that show academics who would leave their home nations in quest of suitable employment opportunities with higher salaries (Benedict & Ukpere, 2013). Since brain drain has long been a persistent issue in the majority of African countries for decades, these findings generally lend support to the existing research on the topic (Kaplan & Höppli, 2017; Kato & Dadson, 2016; Kizito et al., 2015; Noyoo, 2017). For instance, 72 academics at the University of Dar es Salaam and its affiliated colleges, the nation’s premier university, cancelled their job contracts within 5 years without providing specific justifications (Amani & Komba, 2016). These findings are also consistent with earlier research (see e.g., Hokororo & Michael, 2019; Nyahongo, 2015), which found that 102 of the 840 academics at the University of Dodoma left their positions between 2009 and 2013 either by resignation or termination. Although Tanzania is not the only country with this type of academic mobility, the university management must critically evaluate it and take necessary actions to stop the drain on the university. This will be one of the effective ways of alleviating the nation’s lack of qualified academics.
Adequacy of Academics and Their Scholarly Profiles
Inadequately qualified university faculty are a serious concern for the academic profession in Africa and Tanzania in particular, as this study has shown. While a doctorate is a requirement for work in a university, more often than not, Tanzanian academics for both PRUs and PUs are less qualified (see e.g., S. J. Mgaiwa, 2021b; S. J. Mgaiwa & Ishengoma, 2017; Peter, 2018). As shown in the table, only 26.4% of the total academics working in Tanzania hold doctorate degrees as of 2019; the remainder are less qualified. The academic profession’s human resource base and, consequently, the standard of education offered by universities are undoubtedly affected by inadequately qualified academics. It is not surprising that universities throughout Africa, including those in Tanzania, lag behind those in the league table of global university rankings against their counterparts in the global North. This situation partly can be due to a lack of academics with the requisite qualifications. These findings lend support to the existing literature on academic qualifications. For example, some literature (see e.g., Ishengoma, 2007a; S. J. Mgaiwa & Poncian, 2016; Peter Ngalomba, 2014) indicated that university academics in Tanzania have both low academic profiles and education qualifications, particularly in PRUs. Similarly, in Zambia only 49% of academics employed by universities hold doctoral degrees; the remaining 51% are master’s degree holders (Kulyambanino, 2016).
Deterioration of Academic Freedom
Regarding the shrinking of academic freedom in Tanzania, this is not a new finding per se in African higher education, as the available literature has previously documented similar issues in other African countries and beyond. For instance, studies that have already been conducted in African nations and cited academic freedom infringement include Ghana (see e.g., Appiagyei-Atua et al., 2016; Sarpong et al., 2020), South Africa (see e.g., Habib et al., 2008; Olsson, 2023), Zimbabwe (see e.g., Laakso, 2020), Ethiopia (see e.g., Assefa, 2007; Degefa, 2015), Uganda (see e.g., Asiimwe & Steyn, 2013), Kenya (see e.g., Meroka & Ojwang, 2018; Sifuna, 2012), and Botswana (see e.g., Laakso, 2020; Taylor, 2006), to mention a few. The decline of academic freedom in universities may contribute to brain drain because if authority interference prevents university faculties from performing their core functions, such as teaching and research, as reported in this study, they are likely to look for environments that allow them to do so. These findings are supported by studies from other contexts, such as Hong Kong and China, where the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020 appears to have further constrained academic freedom and university autonomy (Baehr, 2022; Fu, 2025; Holz, 2022; Mulvey & Lee, 2025).
Contribution
Notwithstanding its shortcomings, the current study examined the issues facing the academic profession in Africa, and specifically Tanzania as a case. This work makes a significant, practical, and original contribution to our understanding of the challenges facing Tanzania’s academic profession. The present study has enhanced our understanding of the urgent challenges facing the academic profession in Africa. These challenges include a lack of qualified faculty, brain drain, the deterioration of academic freedom, and faculty tenure insecurity. The theoretical contribution from this research positions it to existing similar findings from other countries. For instance, infringement of academic freedom (see e.g., Appiagyei-Atua et al., 2016; Laakso, 2020; Meroka & Ojwang, 2018; Olsson, 2023; Sarpong et al., 2020; Sifuna, 2012), lack of qualified faculty (see e.g., Kobla et al., 2018; Kyaligonza & Kamagara, 2017; Munene, 2013; Salmi et al., 2017; Sifuna, 2010; Wangenge-Ouma, 2008), brain drain (see e.g., Kaplan & Höppli, 2017; Kato & Dadson, 2016; Kizito et al., 2015; Noyoo, 2017), and insecurity of faculty tenure (see e.g., Franzoni & Rossi-Lamastra, 2017; Tayfur Ekmekci et al., 2021). Therefore, having a thorough understanding of these challenges facing the academic profession might help university administration create appropriate, workable strategies to deal with them. For university faculty, understanding the problems facing their profession is crucial because it will enable them to work collaboratively with university management as well as the government to address the existing challenges to the profession. This will assist create academic work environment that is favourable for the advancement of the academic profession in Africa.
Practical Implications for University Management
These findings shed light on what issues university academics face and how they affect their academic profession. Therefore, these findings can have the following managerial and practical implications:
Firstly, considering the documented deterioration in academic freedom, which has detrimental effects on the autonomy and knowledge production of universities in the country, calls for the university vice-chancellors, university management teams, and government policymakers alike to implement strategic initiatives aimed at reinstating and upholding the global ethos of academic autonomy and freedom within their respective institutions of higher education. Academic freedom and autonomy in higher education institutions can be safeguarded by implementing effective institutional policy measures and establishing a robust legislative framework at the national level. By so doing, academics and their universities will be able to ensure that knowledge production through research is free from the interference of both the state and university institutions. Secondly, the results of this study have confirmed a significant shortage of academics, particularly in higher academic ranks of senior lectureship and professorship. These findings have practical implications for university management and policymakers in Tanzania’s higher education sector. Specifically, university management can use these findings to address the significant shortage of academics with PhD qualifications and those in senior lectureship and professorship. For instance, university management should establish a human resource development plan that is adequately budgeted and outlines the recruitment, training, and professional development of faculty. One way to achieve this is by implementing various strategies, such as providing professional development training for academics on how to write publishable research and fundable projects. Additionally, other actions could include allocating funding for research, which will facilitate the production of publications and the eventual advancement of a significant number of university academics to higher academic ranks.
Thirdly, since the findings of the present research also revealed the existence of both internal and external brain drain among academics, these findings can help university vice-chancellors and policymakers in HE alike in addressing brain drain and turnover intention. For instance, university administration could tackle this issue by enhancing the academic work environment through the implementation of policies that assign reasonable workloads, thereby mitigating both job burnout and stress among faculty members. Additionally, by increasing compensation and ensuring security of tenure. Security of tenure could deter both brain drain and turnover intentions among academics. Enhancing university infrastructure (i.e., buildings, power supplies, and internet connections), which has been highlighted to be problematic for integrating technology in university teaching in Africa (Mogaji et al., 2022), is another way that university management might solve the brain drain issue.
Fourthly, it is imperative that university administrators and managers, whether in public or private institutions, purposefully establish protocols and regulations that prioritise security of tenure over part-time or impermanent academic employment. Above all, university administration should strive to establish academic work environments that are intellectually engaging and achieve a harmonious equilibrium for faculty members employed in both PRUs and PUs. These policies will offer an environment that increases academic job satisfaction in the two sub-sectors, enhances the quality of education in higher education, and prevents the widening gap between the number of academics working in PRUs and those working in PUs.
Conclusion, Recommendations, Limitations, and Agenda for Future Research
Conclusion
Based on the findings of the current study, it is worth making several key conclusions in this study. While the present study was geared towards examining the issues facing the academic profession in Tanzania, the findings of this study have identified deteriorating security of tenure, a threat to academic freedom, growing both internal and external brain drain, and a shortage of academics and their low academic profiles as key pressing issues facing the academic profession in Tanzania, and so do other HE institutions in countries with similar work environments.
Recommendations
Based on these findings, the following are recommendations for addressing such issues: First, Tanzania and higher education in Africa are urged to support academic freedom and university autonomy in order to have a thriving academic profession. Such an outcome is possible if the government refrains from political meddling in academic affairs that would weaken academic independence. Second, governments and universities should prioritise research funding, which has multiple benefits: to encourage researchers to do their research, publication of cutting-edge research, promotion of academics to higher ranks and having a large pool of qualified academics to work in HE to ensure that Tanzania and Africa’s academic profession thrives, especially in times of knowledge economy. Third, this study recommends enhancing the working conditions for academics, addressing the problems of work stress, burnout, and heavy workload. This can be accomplished by providing an environment that is conducive to academic success, commitment, and well-being.
Limitations and Agenda for Future Research
Since this study was qualitative in nature, its findings are only applicable to the investigated cases of Tanzanian universities and cannot be extrapolated to the academic profession in other nations. Therefore, similar problems facing the academic profession can be quantitatively examined in future studies. Since this study’s focus was limited to Tanzania, future research on related topics may include additional African countries as well as locations outside of Africa. This study’s sample only consisted of university professors in Tanzania; however, future studies could include a more representative group of participants, including academic emigrants from industrialised nations and politicians who had previously held academic positions.
Footnotes
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability Statement
The data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available due to ethical and confidentiality considerations. However, the data may be made available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.