Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy (MNMA) is an undergraduate university dating back to the dawn of Tanzania's independence in 1961.

While inaugurating Kivukoni College, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the President of TANU and the Prime Minister of Tanganyika by then had this to say about the name.

They offered the following subjects: All zonal colleges except Zanzibar were closed and handed-over to the Tanzania Government in 1992, at the end of the one party state and the adoption of a multi-party system from 1 July 1992.

The Memorandum and Articles of Association which established Kivukoni Academy of Social Sciences gave mandate to the academy to undertake the following functions: In terms of training programmes, KASS offered a one-year Certificate in Youth Work and two year Diploma Programmes in Social Studies, Economic Development and Gender Issues in Development.

The academy is regarded as a prestigious home-grown Tanzanian institution, largely focused on education and training and with some research conducted by individual staff members, many of whom hold PhDs from local and international universities.

From Dar es Salaam city centre, one reaches the academy by two ways; either by driving through Kongowe which takes forty five minutes or by Pontoon which operates 24 hours on daily basis.

[2] The Ecologist journal (2019) questions why the academy buildings were favoured preferentially in coastal protection works, while more vulnerable locations are still exposed to storm surges and rising sea levels.