Mzumbe University was established by its Charter of 2007 enacted under Section 25 of the Universities Act, 2005 (Act No. 7 of 2005) which repealed and replaced the Mzumbe University Act (Act No. 21 of 2001). As a Training Institute, the University boasts of over 50 years’ experience of training in the Administration of Justice, Business Management, Public Administration, Accountancy, Finance, Management Science and Good governance. Mzumbe University's origin can be traced back to 1953 when the British Colonial Administration established a Local Government School in the country. The school was aimed at training local Chiefs, Native Authority Staff, and Councilors. The level of training was elevated after Tanzania's (Tanganyika) independence to include training of Central Government Officials, Rural Development Officers, and Local Court Magistrates.

The pronouncement of Arusha Declaration in 1967 which culminated in the nationalization of Private Businesses and the decentralization process of 1971, created a huge demand for high and middle level human resources. As one of the Government strategies to meet this demand, in 1972, the then Local Government School was amalgamated by the then Institute of Public Administration of the University of Dar es Salaam to form the Institute of Development Management (IDM-Mzumbe). IDM was a higher learning institution for training professional Managers in the Public and Private sectors.

Given the natural growth of the Institute over the years of successful operation and the changing national and international human resource needs, the Government transformed it into a fully-fledged public University. This was made through the Act of Parliament No. 21 of 2001 (the Mzumbe University Act, 2001). Currently, the Mzumbe University is governed by the Mzumbe University Charter, 2007 which now guides the operations and management of the University. The mandate of the University as stipulated in the Mzumbe University Charter, 2007 focuses on Training, Research, Publications, and Public service consultancy.