Dar es Salaam. The number of university students dropping out has decreased by 15.56 percent over the past three years, with academic failure, deregistration, and absenteeism remaining the primary reasons for these students leaving their studies.
Statistics from the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) for the year 2025, released recently, indicate that the number of dropout students fell from 2,839 in the 2022/2023 academic year to 2,397 in 2025/2026.
Despite this reduction, 1,824 out of the 2,397 students who dropped out last year left due to academic failure, 350 were deregistered, 208 departed from universities owing to absenteeism, while 15 passed away.
According to those figures, undergraduate students led in dropping out, accounting for 1,884, followed by basic certificates at 230, diplomas at 132, master's degrees at 120, and doctorate degrees at 31.
Further analysis shows that men lead in leaving university compared to women, as in 2025/2026 they constituted 62.3 percent.
Lecturer Luka Mkonongwa states that one reason causing students to leave universities is a lack of firm employment hopes after graduating, especially after seeing those ahead of them remaining at home.
He states that this situation makes some students develop a split focus, where half their thoughts are on studies and the other half on entrepreneurship.
“By doing so, they may invest heavy energy into entrepreneurial activities and forget studies, a situation that can cause them to fail to meet criteria for sitting final examinations,” he says.
He explains that this situation can make a student withdraw from university after failing to meet criteria or fail and suffer deregistration, because they are uncertain whether, after finishing studies, they can secure employment.
“Entrepreneurship is not a bad thing, but the challenge arises when a student leans to one side and forgets the other, because without balance they might lose something crucial,” he says.
Regarding tough economic conditions, Mr Mkonongwa says despite loans being provided to students, some still receive small amounts insufficient to cover their needs due to rising living costs.
He also says some students, upon receiving loans, begin assisting surrounding families, including their parents and younger siblings.
“At times a student reaches a point of being overwhelmed because loan funds, which they ought to use for personal needs, are spent assisting other dependents,” he says.
“This situation can cause certain students to fail to proceed with studies due to having numerous responsibilities and shifting living expenses, unlike in the past when allowance funds proved sufficient,” he adds.
He says economic hardship can also be caused by naive ostentation, as some students wish to appear modern, thus failing to spend money on basic needs.
Instead, they end up purchasing expensive nice phones and clothes while failing to afford other requirements.
“A student might feel unable to use an ordinary phone and go buy a nice phone matching their status as a university student, a situation leading some into loans or debts and mutual borrowing, something that can cause them to lack subsistence money,” added Mr Mkonongwa.
He says a student's academic background is another factor, as upon reaching university they are expected to be self-reliant in learning, visit libraries to study independently, and prepare their own notes.
But, being accustomed to relying on teachers in previous levels, adapting to that system proves difficult.
“There is also the matter of relationships. Relationships of the past and present differ. Some enter relationships and fail to focus on studies, a situation causing them to fail,” he says.
However, he says this figure appears large due to the continuous increase in overall university student numbers, as it is not easy for all students to continue performing well.
“Nevertheless, those dropping out, even if a small percentage, ought to be tracked,” he says.
While Mkonongwa explains that, Mr Victor Msangi, who is currently a businessman, narrates that when starting university he held high hopes of completing studies and securing employment after graduating, but as days mounted challenges multiplied to the point of forcing him to seek work.
“Living expenses increased, subsistence money was insufficient, and at times I was forced to assist family instead of using that money for my study requirements. Also, I began losing heart after seeing some who completed studies before me staying long without securing employment,” he says.
He says this situation made him begin thinking more about focusing on income-generating activities rather than continuing with studies, to economically liberate himself and those behind him, particularly his studying younger siblings.
“Ultimately I failed to cope with university demands, including performing well in examinations, and decided to suspend studies. It was not that I disliked studying, but circumstances made it difficult to proceed,” he says.
‘They do not focus on studies’
Commenting on the matter, education researcher, Mr Muhanyi Nkoronko, says the continued presence of students failing to proceed with studies is caused by failing to maintain focus on their studies.
“We have many students with emergency-style scholarships. They only turn up to take examinations, they abscond, and while in class they do not undertake exercises. These undermine their learning and cause them to fail to reach required standards to proceed,” he says.
Following the crowd in course selection has been another factor causing students to fail to proceed with studies due to failing to cope with what they study as days progress.
“For some lecturers, students fail to comprehend their teaching; others do not finish courses, so when examinations arrive, it becomes difficult for them to achieve good results,” he says.
Discussing the issue, a Dar es Salaam parent, Mwajuma Msuya, says parents ought to act as advisors rather than deciding study disciplines for children, as doing so can cause some to lose study motivation or fail to cope with professions they were forced to pursue.
“I think a parent ought to listen to the child first to know what talent and dream they hold currently. Many of us parents want children to study fields we favoured ourselves or which we view as prestigious, but at the end of the day the person studying is the child,” says Msuya.
“If they study something they dislike, they might fail to perform well or even drop out. It is good we offer advice and information regarding the job market, but the final decision should remain theirs,” she added.
