NIT’s Leader And Change-Maker Prof Mganilwa Retires As Rector after Twelve Years of Exceptional Service -

After
twelve years of exceptional service at the National Institute of Transport
(NIT), Professor Zacharia Mganilwa retires from his role as Rector. Under Prof
Mganilwa’s leadership, NIT has managed to create a surplus through significant
growth in student numbers, partnerships and improved operating performance.

Under
his leadership, NIT is now one of Tanzania and as well as East and Central
Africa’s best higher learning institutions, with graduate employability and
employer satisfaction rates among the highest in the region.

Prof
Mganilwa who is still a public servant until 2028 when he will be at 65, says
his wish is to remain at NIT to continue imparting knowledge and skills to the
young academic generation with a vision of making the National Institute of
Transport to start offering PhD’s programmes before his retirement in 2028.

The
Outgoing Rector believes that achieving great success requires great personal
sacrifice and energy, and he has done this with the utmost passion and
integrity.

Our
Staff Writer spoke in an exclusive interview with NIT’s outgoing Rector PROF
MGANILWA. Read on.

Question:
What are the greatest achievements you’re most proud of during your time as NIT
Rector?

Answer: One of my greatest achievements
that I have recorded at NIT are many but in short, when I joined the National
Institute of Transport in 2011/12 as Rector, the number of degree programmes
offered here was only two but now when I’m leaving the office, there are
16-degree courses, the number of diploma programmes was only 2 in 2011/12 but
now there are 25 courses.

Regarding
students, by 2011/12 there were only 575 students but now we have 16,000
students.

During
my time, the Institute has trained some academic staff to cope with the
increased number of students. The academic and non-academic staff as of now are
400 compared to 12 years ago when the number of staff was 113.

In
2011, the Institute managed to employ only four transport specialists but now
those specialists are over 150.

As
for the domestic revenue, NIT has managed to increase its income from Tsh800
million in the fiscal year 2011/12 to Tsh25 billion in 2021/2022 and the
Institute’s budget improved from Tsh5 billion to Tsh96 billion.

When
I came here in 2011, only one model of transport (Road) programme was trained
here but now all five models of transport programmes are offered at NIT
including Railway, Air, Marine and Pipeline.

Under
my leadership, the Institute managed to purchase two aircraft Cessna
Skyhawk single-engine worth USD 1.057m from United States-based Textron
Aviation Inc. for pilot and other aviation courses.

In
my time, I also managed to establish three more campuses that are still in the
implementation stages. The campuses are NIT Lindi for Marine Engineering in
supporting the blue economy, NIT Tabora Campus for training students on railway
courses including manufacturing and repairing of railway wagons in the country
and the other campus at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) for aviation
studies specifically on pilot courses.

During
my time I also managed to establish the Centre of Excellence in Aviation and
Transport Operations (CEATO) supported by the World Bank under the East Africa
Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) worth
Tsh49 billion and establishment of a Regional Center for Excellence in Road
Safety (RCoE) with the funding of USD 2.25 million from the African Development
Bank (AfDB) administered by Tanzania Road Agency.

Q: What are your plans as you
retire as a rector?

A:
Well, I have retired as a Rector after 12 years, but I have five more years
until I retire as a public servant in 2028. With these five years that remain
until I officially retire, I want to spend the remaining time here at NIT to
continue imparting the knowledge and skills that I have to the young academic
generation.

I
have marked over 500 theses and dissertations on master’s and Ph.D. levels from
several universities and higher learning institutes including Jomo Kenyatta
University, Zimbabwe University, Makerere University, Nairobi University,
University of Dar es Salaam, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dar es Salaam
Institute of Technology and many more.

I
want this experience to remain at NIT and my vision is to make sure that by
2028, the National Institute of Transport can offer PhD’s programmes.

Q:
What do you see as your legacy at NIT?

A:
It’s a very modest accomplishment. Now, the National Institute of Transport is
attracting students with very high marks very different from the time that I
joined the Institute. I am also happy that I leave a very motivated staff.

I
also left the Institute with five faculties; no learning Institution under the
NACTVET has such a big structure as we have.

Q:
What are the biggest risks you’ve taken in your time at NIT?

A:
The biggest risk I took during my time, was making possible things into
possible. I remember announcing the pilot course while we didn’t have any
planes for practical but now we have two practical aircraft and the other one
is coming next year.

I
hope I’ll be remembered as someone of integrity and principles, who was
prepared to make some difficult decisions and who always acted in the best
interests of NIT’s students and staff.

Q:
As the Rector of the most respectable higher learning institution in the
country. How have you approached balancing the interests and opinions of
different stakeholders?

A:
The greatest quality of any leader is to be responsive. During my time I
managed to work very closely with stakeholders which as also helped the
Institute especially students and academic staff to have opportunities for
industrial attachments.

However,
the good collaborations with stakeholders have also enabled us to get good
feedback that enabled NIT to make positive changes in our curriculums.

Q:
Your role as Rector must have been incredibly demanding at times. How have you
managed to juggle the many issues that you’ve been dealing with?

A:
As a professional Engineer, I was trained to handle the multi-tasks, no matter
how the tasks I used to have; I managed to handle all the work in my office
because I understand that time doesn’t wait for anybody.

Living
and studying in Japan for 7 years has helped me to achieve a lot and develop my
career, this is one of the reasons why I managed to handle many issues as a
Rector without problem.

Q:
Why has it been so important to you that the NIT deepens its relations with the
alumni community?

A:
When I was appointed as Rector here, the Institute didn’t have a convocation or
Alumni organization but I tried my best to unite all the alumni and now we are
celebrating the 10th convocation.

Meanwhile,
after the establishment of the Alumni network of NIT for the past 10 years, we
have managed to attract many public and private companies that are supporting
our best students during the convocation celebrations.

Q:
You have consistently championed philanthropy and made your donations to NIT.
What has motivated you to give?

A:
What I want to say, as a Tanzanian who received free education from Primary
School to University as well as taken to Japan for seven years, I was indebted
to my lovely country. That’s why I decided to work day and night to make sure
that the Institute achieve its goals.

Q:
What has been the biggest single change in the Higher Education sector during
your time at NIT?

A:
The biggest change I can be proud of is that when I started working as Rector,
the Institute used to have only three academic staff with PhD’s but now there
is more than 40 academic staff with PhD’s. Not only that, there were only two
departments but now we have 14 departments and all of them are managed by PhD
Holders.

Parting shot?

A:
In an ever-growing and competitive world, creativity and innovation are the
best tools for success. Therefore, I urge the remaining management and the one
who will come to properly utilize creativity and innovation as well as
collaborate with staff on the Institute projects.