Twenty years have elapsed since the passing of Prof. Chachage Seithy L. Chachage, one of Tanzania’s most distinguished public intellectuals, scholars, and social critics. Chachage was renowned for his unwavering commitment to intellectual freedom, critical scholarship, and social justice. Throughout his academic career and public life, he challenged dominant orthodoxies and consistently argued that universities should serve as spaces of independent inquiry, democratic engagement, and transformative knowledge production.

Two decades after his passing, many of the questions that animated Chachage’s scholarship remain as relevant as ever. African universities are operating in an increasingly complex environment characterised by growing pressures on intellectual freedom, changing relationships between universities and the state, the commercialization of higher education, rapid technological transformation, shifting patterns of knowledge production, and evolving societal expectations.

Held shortly after the twentieth anniversary of his passing, this memorial dialogue provides an opportunity not only to celebrate Chachage’s enduring intellectual legacy but also to engage critically with the contemporary challenges facing African universities. Rather than convening a traditional academic conference, the dialogue is conceived as a dialogue-oriented forum that brings together scholars, students, practitioners, and members of the Chachage family to reflect on the future of the African university through the lens of Chachage’s ideas and public engagement.

Beyond commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Chachage’s passing, the dialogue is envisaged as the first step towards institutionalising the Chachage Memorial Dialogue as a recurring intellectual forum at the University of Dar es Salaam, dedicated to advancing critical scholarship and dialogue on issues of public importance.