The project arose out of long-standing Tanzanian-German research cooperation in law between the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Bayreuth.
It was on the basis of this mature and firmly established Tanzanian-German relationship that the idea of a common postgraduate study programme in law was developed, motivated by a determination to maintain the longstanding connection, and in the confidence that a certain degree of institutionalisation and financial security would ensure its long-term survival.
The University of Dar es Salaam was born out of a decision taken in 1970 to split the then University of East Africa into three independent universities, Makerere University (Uganda), the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). Today, the University of Dar es Salaam is the oldest and biggest institution of tertiary education in Tanzania.
The Faculty of Law of the then University of East Africa was founded in 1961 with the aim of educating lawyers for the closely cooperating East African countries of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar.
The mission of the faculty, echoing that of the University of Dar es Salaam, is to remain a centre of excellence and a leading institution in training highly skilled, society-conscious lawyers, to advance the frontiers of knowledge through research, and to provide legal services in furtherance of justice and good governance in a changing world.
The faculty’s vision is to optimise its research output through efficient utilisation of available resources. The vision includes a mechanism for prioritising and coordinating research at the departmental level in order to ensure that research carried out is multi-disciplinary and cuts across various legal issues.
The University of Bayreuth is situated in the state of Bavaria in Germany and was founded in 1975. Since its foundation, the university has developed a dense network of international university partnerships and joint research projects.
Research related to law in Africa has a history of over 25 years at the University of Bayreuth. Academic activities have included legal research within several interdisciplinary collaborative research programmes. Over the years close contacts with a number of African legal academics and their institutions have been established. Moreover, African and German lawyers have produced their doctoral and habilitation theses on law relating to Africa at the University of Bayreuth.
In this faculty, law, business administration, economics and health economy are combined under one roof.
Interdisciplinary research is carried out on central issues relating to the economy, society and the state. The faculty's research programme, "Dynamics and Order", examines various interactions in the dynamics of social and business development processes, and the formation of ordered structures in complex social and economic systems.
The Institute of African Studies (IAS), founded in 1990, is an academic institution which promotes and coordinates Africa-related research and teaching. The IAS reflects a long history of inter- and multidisciplinary research and cooperation among its members, who originate from different faculties. More than 100 junior and senior scholars are currently conducting research in more than a dozen disciplines. The Institute also coordinates cross-faculty training for young researchers in Africa-related disciplines and has active relationships with many African universities.top