Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is regarded as the cornerstone for the development of any nation because it is considered to be the main supplier of skilled personnel for the labour market. This type of education has been the engine for socioeconomic development realised in many developed countries because it focusses on training skills demanded by the labour market. Tanzania adopted competence-based education and training (CBET) in technical education in early 2000s with the purpose of training students skills demanded by the labour market. But, there is still a general consensus among stakeholders that technical education has not improved significantly to produce qualified graduates to meet labour market demands. However, there is consensus among scholars that human resource management (HRM) has positive influence on quality of education and thereby help institutions to produce qualified graduates for the labour market. Therefore this study aimed at finding out how and to what extent HRM is used to enhance quality delivery of technical education in Tanzania.

The study was conducted in six technical colleges, namely Arusha Technical College, Institute of Accountancy Arusha, Water Development and Management Institute, National College of Tourism, Fisheries Training Institute and Mineral Resource Institute. The study followed the pragmatic research philosophy which advocates the use of mixed methods research approaches by applying both qualitative and quantitative research strategies. The qualitative research was carried out through interviews with college managers and review of documents when investigating HRM in the colleges and also through interviews with employers and graduates to find out their perception about the quality of graduates from technical institutions in responding to labour market demands. Whereas quantitative research was carried out by administering survey questionnaires to teachers in the six colleges in order to get their perception on HRM and its influence on CBET delivery.

Findings revealed that technical institutions in Tanzania have inadequate HRM capacity because of challenges such as inadequate budget for execution of HRM activities, lack of competent HRM managers for proper execution of HRM functions, limited HRM mandates and unsuitable HRM policies for technical institutions. Findings also showed that recruitment and selection of teachers is based on academic qualifications and there is lack of use of work experience and teaching qualification selection criteria. There is also limited exposure of teachers to professional training, industrial training and teaching methodology on CBET delivery. Furthermore, the colleges face challenges in terms of inadequate salary and incentives, limited promotion opportunities and unfavourable working environment. These challenges affect the level of competence and motivation of teachers to deliver CBET in Tanzanian technical institutions.

The statistical results indicate that working experience selection criterion, teaching qualification selection criterion, professional training, industrial training, CBET delivery training, salary, incentives and promotion have positive influence on competence of
teaching staff to deliver CBET in technical institutions. Furthermore working experience selection criterion, teaching qualification selection criterion, professional training, industrial training, CBET delivery training, salary, incentives, working environment and
promotion were found to have positive influence on motivation of teaching staff to deliver CBET in technical institutions. This suggests that these HRM factors need to be properly implemented in order to ensure availability of qualified and motivated teachers who can effectively deliver CBET in technical institutions in Tanzania.

The study also investigated the status of quality of graduates from technical institutions to determine to what extent they meet labour market demands. Findings from both employers and employed graduates indicate that technical education is not yet responsive to the labour market demands because of the observed mismatch between graduates’ skills and labour market demands. The graduates are reported to be weak in technical skills, communication skills, computer skills, job attitude, planning and project management skills. Thus, it takes long time for them to learn through on-job training and work under supervision for a long
time in order to master their responsibilities.

However, despite the challenges encountered, the study compared colleges with better
HRM capacity and low HRM capacity. The study revealed that colleges with better HRM capacity had better HRM practices, more competent and motivated teachers and better graduates than colleges with low HRM capacity. The colleges with better HRM capacity
are Arusha Technical College, Institute of Accountancy Arusha and Water Development and Management Institute and colleges with low HRM capacity include National College of Tourism, Fisheries Training Institute and Mineral Resource Institute. This suggests that
HRM capacity facilitates proper execution of HRM practices which increase the competence and motivation level of teaching staff to deliver training and thereby produce competent graduates for the labour market.

Therefore, in order to improve the quality of technical education in the context of CBET environment, the study recommends that colleges must have adequate HRM capacity by increasing HRM budget to support HRM activities; decentralise HRM mandates to training institutions so as to be able to make own decisions pertaining to HRM, employ competent HRM managers and establish HRM policies relevant for technical institutions. There is also a need to improve recruitment and selection criteria by going beyond using academic qualifications to include workplace experience in the relevant occupation and teaching qualifications to enhance effective teaching. Furthermore, institutions must regularly provide adequate professional training, industrial training and CBET teaching training to teaching staff in order to update and upgrade their skills and enhance their CBET delivery capabilities. Moreover, institutions must provide attractive rewards in terms of salary, incentives, working environment and promotions in order to attract and retain qualified teachers in technical institutions. The implementation of the above mentioned HRM factors would increase the competence and motivation level of teaching staff to deliver competence-based education and training and thereby produce competent graduates who can perform to meet labour market demands.