Barriers towards the adoption of a practical training management system at the University of Dar es Salaam

There is a growing demand for work-based learning in higher education. This motivated the modification of curricula of higher learning institutions in Tanzania to include a Practical Training course. At the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and other institutions, the management and coordination of the course, however, is not computerised and this led to the development of a Practical Training Management System which surprisingly took a long time to adopt. This study therefore aimed to investigate the barriers towards the adoption of the Practical Training Management System at the University of Dar es Salaam. The research was conducted at the College of Information and Communication Technologies (CoICT) at the University of Dar es Salaam whereby a total of 254 staff and students responded to a survey that tested various aspects that were considered to be possible barriers towards the adoption of the system such as the environment, training, awareness and policies. The results showed the main barriers to be lack of awareness and training, unreliable and slow Internet connectivity, and policy and administrative support.