St. Francis University College of Health and Allied Sciences (SFUCHAS) was founded by the Tanzania Episcopal Conference to help train more doctors and health professionals for Tanzania, with particular attention to the parts of the country where health workers are hardest to find.

It is the second medical school owned by the Catholic bishops of Tanzania, and it was the first medical university college in the country to be established in a rural setting — a deliberate choice, placing the training of health professionals in the kind of community many of them would go on to serve.

Registration and inauguration

The Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) granted the college provisional registration in November 2010, and SFUCHAS was officially inaugurated in June 2011. Full registration followed in September 2013.

The first intake of Doctor of Medicine students enrolled in 2010. That cohort is remembered at the college as the pioneers.

A commitment carried from the start

The college states that its management, through its operations, will ensure equal opportunity and exercise social justice and non-discrimination — on the basis of gender, race, religion, political affiliation, disability or any other grounds.