MoCU is located in Moshi Municipality, on the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro along Sokoine Road. The University has an Institute located in Shinyanga Region along Tabora Road, namely Kizumbi Institute of Co-operative and Business Education (KICoB). In addition, the University operates 13 regional offices catering for all regions in Tanzania. These offices are in Mtwara (serving Mtwara and Lindi regions), Mbeya (serving Mbeya, Rukwa and Songwe regions), Kilimanjaro (serving Kilimanjaro, and Arusha regions), Shinyanga (serving Shinyanga and Simiyu regions), Mwanza (serving Mwanza, Geita, Mara and Kagera regions), Iringa (serving Iringa and Njombe regions), Dodoma (serving Dodoma and Morogoro regions), Coast (serving Coast, Dar-es-Salaam regions; Unguja and Pemba Islands), Singida (serving for Singida and Manyara regions), Ruvuma, Tanga, Tabora and Kigoma (serving for Kigoma and Katavi regions).
The history of the Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU) dates way back to 5th January 1963 when the then Co-operative College Moshi was established. The College’s primary responsibility was training of human resource in the co-operative sector under the then Ministry of Co-operatives and Community Development. The College was subsequently established through the Co-operative College Act No. 32 (Repealed) of 1964 as an autonomous institution with its own Governing Board.
In 2004, the Co-operative College Moshi was transformed into MUCCoBS as the Constituent University College of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) through the Government Notice No. 172 of 2004. MoCU came into being as a result of transforming MUCCoBS to a full-fledged University in September, 2014. The University is governed by its own Charter, made under the Universities Act No. 7 of 2005. It was accredited by the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) on 7th November, 2018.