This study examines the "Indigenous Democratic Socialist" development strategy imposed by Julius K. Nyerere, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania since its inception, and the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), the single ruling party. The following questions were addressed. (1) How have the policies of Nyerere and TANU sought to alter higher education at the University of Dar es Salaam? (2) What factors external to the University have affected implementation of these policies? (3) Have the outcomes of the reform efforts in higher education been consistent with the policies of Nyerere and TANU stated goals? To empirically and quantitatively assess the impact of national leadership policies on outcomes at the University of Dar es Salaam, the study utilized an "eclectic" approach. This approach integrated the historical, policy analysis, and evaluation research methods.
Five national policies are assessed using these methodological perspectives: National Economic and Social Development Plans; The Arusha Declaration; Education for Self-Reliance; Mwongozo; and the Musoma Resolution. Data analysis shows that Nyerere and TANU have not attained all of their goals and objectives. Impressive achievements, however, have been made in: increasing enrollment at all levels of the education system; localization, that is, replacing employed non-Tanzanians with Tanzanians; mobilizing human and capital resources for rural development; and preparing highly skilled and technical indigenous workers. Continuing problems are: underproduction of skilled manpower, income disparities and social inequalities, rural-urban and regional development inequities.
The study concludes that the policies of Nyerere and TANU have clearly moved higher education at the University of Dar es Salaam in the direction of national development goals. Moreover, when specific policies produced unintended outcomes contrary to national development goals, these policies were revised, or new policies were enunciated to produce outcomes consistent with national development efforts.
