While enrolments in private universities is still low in Tanzania, their number, however, is surging at an alarming rate raising critical questions about their academic quality in terms of their course offerings and the qualifications of the academic staff involved in teaching these programmes. Despite this surge in the sheer number of Tanzania private universities, public universities remain dominant in terms of enrolment. This paper (i) documents the hitherto-lacking critical information about private universities and university colleges in Tanzania, (ii) discusses the implications of the surge and (iii) discusses the related issues of academic quality