The Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) released its third edition of the Handbook for Standards and Guidelines for University Education aimed mostly to ensure the quality of open, distance, and e-learning programmes. The new guidelines are aligned with the East African Community Common Higher Education Area framework, and with provisions in international conventions and declarations.

In addition to offering online programmes of the same quality as delivered in physical classrooms, licensed higher-education institutions are obliged to provide necessary infrastructure and equipment for administrative and academic purposes. Only accredited programmes certified by the TCU will be offered to university students, as well as the blended learning methodology, in order to expand higher education access in Tanzania that is lower in terms of enrolment compared to the sub-Saharan African average of 8%.