PACM is, in a way, a next generation of North-South cooperation, a natural development of the previous models. The whole Master, and later PhD, education is intended to be moved to the African soil.
Realizing that the challenge of building capacity in mathematical research faces most African countries and that the majority of these countries cannot meet it on their own, the present model adopts a Pan-African approach for addressing it.
To mitigate the shortcomings of the traditional model, the idea of the present model was to establish a world class Centre for graduate studies in mathematics as a collaborative project between a prestigious western university and a suitable African university.
While the first will award the degrees and monitor quality of education, the second will hosts the Centre as an autonomous institution.
The initiator of this Centre was prof. Mohamed El-Tom from Sudan. He infected with this idea prof. Michael Passare from Stockholm University (SU). A discussion with the Vice-chancellor of SU began together with a search for a suitable host-University in Africa.
Already in May 2010 the Vice-chancellors of SU and the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, signed a Memorandum of Understanding that details the role and commitment of each partner.
Since then, intensive work began with a creation of the organization, both administrative and scientific, selecting a suitable location for the campus, financing, curriculum, admissions process, legal issues and so on.
Our hope is that the PACM will open its doors to the first 40 Master students in Autumn 2012.

Cooperation
In order to achieve its objectives, the Centre will strive to cooperate closely with other initiatives that share with it the goal of promoting mathematics in the continent. Prominent examples of these initiatives are

• AIMS,

• African Mathematics Millennium Science Initiative, AMMSI,

• ICTP Mathematics Programme, and

• ISP Mathematics Programme,

• Pan African University, PAU.