University of Haiti

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Haiti's most important institution of higher education in the 1980s was the University of Haiti. Its origins date to the 1820s, when colleges of medicine and law were established. In 1942 the various faculties merged into the University of Haiti. After a student strike in 1960, François Duvalier's government brought the university under firm government control and renamed it the State University. The government restored the original name in 1986.

In 1981 there were 4,099 students at the University of Haiti, of whom 26 % were enrolled in the Faculty of Law and Economics; 25 %, in the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy; 17 %, in the Faculty of Administration and Management; and 11 %, in the Faculty of Science and Topography. Despite the important role played by agriculture in the Haitian economy, only 5 % of the university's students were enrolled in the Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine. In 1981 the University of Haiti had 559 professors, compared with 207 in 1967. Most professors worked part time, were paid on an hourly basis, and had little time for contact with students. The University of Haiti also suffered severe shortages of books and other materials.