8.1 Remarks about the Conference and a Brief Note to Welcome the Minister for Science, Technology, and Higher Education, Hon. Dr. P. Ng'wandu by Prof. A. Siwela, President AAU 
 

The AAU President thanked all involved parties for facilitating and making the COREVIP'99 a success. 
 

Prof Siwela went on to give a brief summary of the proceedings of the conference, highlighting the fact that the theme of the conference was very topical indeed as African universities prepare themselves to enter the next millennium. 
 

He said that he hoped that all the deliberations accruing from the conference would be closely followed up by member universities for the benefit of the member nations. 
 

After the brief remarks, the AAU President invited the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Hon. Dr. P. Ng'wandu, to deliver his formal closing address.(For the full text of te AAU President's Remarks see Appendix XVI) 
 

8.2 Formal Closing Address by Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Hon. Dr. P. Ng'wandu 
 

The Minister began his address by thanking the organizers for inviting him to officiate the closing ceremony. He said that he hoped that in the future, AAU would consider Tanzania as a venue for other COREVIP meetings. 
 

The speaker highlighted the importance of discussing how African Universities have to prepare themselves to enter the new millennium with a clear vision and aspirations that will make Africans fare better in worldwide activities. He insisted that African governments rely on the expertise input of African Universities in order for such governments to chart out how to prevent the world from being pre-occupied with marginalising Africa on all possible occasions. In the same vein, the Minister underlined the role of the Universities in contributing to national and regional development. 
 

The next part of the speech briefed the participants on the key milestones that Tanzania was able to attain in 1998 in the higher education sector. The cited achievements included: 
 

• •The setting up in March 1998, of the National Task Force to advise the Government on how to financially sustain the higher education in the future
• •The intensification of the activities of the National Higher Education Accreditation Council and further opening up of the non-public higher education sector in Tanzania
• •A joint exhibition and information dissemination workshop between the Ministry and public Universities in Tanzania; events which focussed on the role of higher education institutions in the future development of Tanzania
• •Submission of the new Higher Education Policy for Cabinet approval

 

The next part of the closing speech dwelt on the question of language. The Minister spent quite some time advocating the use of Kiswahili language as the natural choice for AAU since the language does not have any ethnic affiliations. He challenged the participants to seriously think of adopting Kiswahili as the associations working language and also as a major African language to be taught in all member universities. 
 

In the last parts of the speech, the Minister thanked AAU, the host University (UDSM) and all the conference delegates for a successful conference. He said that he hoped that all the main resolutions drawn during the conference will be respected and implemented by all the African Universities represented at the conference. 
 

After these remarks, the Minister declared the COREVIP'99 formally closed. (The full text of the Minister's speech is available as Appendix XVII) 
 

8.3 A Vote of Thanks by Prof. M.L. Luhanga, Vice Chancellor, University of Dar es Salaam 
 
In his vote of thanks, Prof. M.L. Luhanga, thanked everyone and wished all the participants a safe return to their respective homes.(The full text of the Vote of Thanks is available as Appendix XVIII)