The Centre for Educational Research and Professional Development (CERPD) is a University of Dar es Salaam organ, acting as a research, consultancy and further training unit within the School of Education.

The Centre’s vision is to become an excelling point for ground breaking research in education, cutting edge education public services, a fountain of competent professionals and an ever reliable repository of knowledge. Its mission is to advance knowledge through research in education and enabling local and international researchers as well as educators to access facilities for conducting education research, consultancies and training. In brief, it is a centre where one gets:

• Access to educational research inputs and outputs
• Consultancy services
• Training for professional development
• Opportunities for academic seminars, workshops, open lecturers and conferences
• Opportunities for collaboration with other academic institutions and research firms, both at local and international levels.

The objectives of the centre are summarized as:

• Identifying research needs and conducting research in educational areas;
• Providing facilities and resources for national and international researchers and evaluators to carry out research and evaluation studies in the country;
• Coordinating and harmonizing all educational research and evaluation activities in Tanzania by acting as a clearinghouse for local and international education research and evaluation studies in the country;
• Providing service to educational research and evaluation institutions and other agencies interested in education;
• Hosting a depository for educational research and evaluation reports and acting as a data bank;
• Organizing monthly staff—student seminars, open lecturers, workshops as well as local & international conferences;
• Train university staff members, and students, in educational research through short/long –term training courses that are organized by the Centre and through participation in national and international macro research and evaluation programmes:
• Coordinating the offering of short courses aimed at professional/career development especially for academics (from other universities), teachers and needy executives.