Dear PhD-students, It is my pleasure to welcome you to the KCMU College of Tumaini University Makumira which is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. The College is dedicated to training professionals, from undergraduates up to postgraduates, to deliver comprehensive health care in Tanzania and elsewhere. Over a period of fifteen years this College has grown and developed in capacity for enrolment and infrastructure. With an enrolment of 15 students in 1997, the student population has grown to over 1000 this academic year. KCMU College upholds the Tumaini University Makumira Vision of being Christ-Centred in imparting knowledge, skills and attitude to students by emulating the Christ’s character of love, mercy, compassion and faithfulness through studying and by working diligently in order to become better servants to those who will need quality professional service. The “General regulations for the doctoral programmes” have recently been reviewed by the Postgraduate Directorate and received approval by the Senate of Tumaini University Makumira. It stipulates among others entry requirements, roles of (co-)supervisors, requirements for the research proposal and the PhD book, how to assess progress, the procedure for admission to the oral defence, the way of assessing and grading the thesis and finally gives a checklist to be used both by PhD students as well as supervisors. Though the number of PhD students, registered at the College is still small, the College realizes the necessity of having clear and transparent regulations and also the need to develop a PhD handbook which in more detail describes the programme. It is a great pleasure to see such handbook now being ready to be distributed to PhD students, (potential) supervisors and foreign collaborators. In the meantime the College endeavours to create a conducive environment for teaching, learning and researching among others by establishing a PhD resource centre and by improving its internet facilities. The entire community of KCMC and KCMU College welcomes you and hopes that you will have a fruitful and enjoyable study period at the College and also that you will contribute to build a Medical College with virtues of excellency. Prof. Egbert M Kessi, MD, MMED, MSc PROVOST KILIMANJARO CHRISTIAN MEDICAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.