Africa-Press – Tanzania. The National Institute of Transport (NIT) has agreed with the Airbus Company responsible to become its training centre for Africa.
This was unveiled in Dar es Salaam over the weekend by NIT Rector, Prof Zacharia Mganilwa after receiving aircraft engineering training equipment as support from the government through Tanzania Education Authority (TEA).
He said NIT has already trained about 75 aircraft maintenance engineers since 2015.
“NIT will be the Airbus training centre for Africa. However, the Institute is looking forward to initiating talks with the Boeing aircraft manufacturer about making NIT their training centre as well,” he said.
Prof Mganilwa thanked the government support through TEA for providing them with practical training equipment.
“We are very grateful to the government through the aviation training equipment to our students who are undertaking aircraft maintenance engineering training,” he said.
Prof Mganilwa further said that currently about 49 bachelors and 26 diplomas in aircraft maintenance engineering have graduated from the Institute since the establishment of the School of Aviation Technology in 2015.
Prof Mganilwa added: “The aircraft maintenance engineering is offered abroad with a fee ranging between 200m/- to 300m/-. The NIT offers this course with a fee of 6m/- per year.”
“We plan to eliminate the existing gap of foreign aviation engineers, currently reaching more than 60 per cent,” he said.
Prof Mganilwa requested the government to think of providing a grant for the amount bachelor students have to top up from that given by HESLB which is almost 50 per cent of the fee, this is because most of the students fail to afford to pay the remaining amount.
The government is requested to look at the possibilities of providing loans to diploma students in aircraft maintenance engineering as their fee is 5 million and most of them drop on the way due to among others tuition fee challenges.
However, the same course can be obtained for a cost of more than 100m/- abroad, he said.
Prof Mganilwa added that the Institute is still preparing to commence a pilot training program, which shall instantly be after acquiring two pilot training aircraft from the government expected before the mid of 2022.
“The other three planes (two single engines and one multi-engine) from EASTRIP project funded by the World Bank are still in the purchasing line,” he said.
The Director of the TEA Ms Bahati Geuzye said the equipment handed over to NIT for aircraft maintenance engineering practical training courses, costs 245.4m/-.
“This aircraft maintenance engineering training equipment is the support from the government-run TEA to improve the teaching environment at NIT in the area of air transport,” she said.
Speaking before handing over the training equipment to the NIT, the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Professor Joyce Ndalichako said:
“I also commend the NIT for being an example of a strategic higher learning institute in providing training that reflects the vision of the sixth phase government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan.”
