| University of Burao | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Cilmi, Iimaan, Tacab Knowledge, Faith, Effort |
| Established | 27 September 2004 |
| Type | Public |
| Chancellor | Mohmoud Adan Dher |
| Vice-Chancellor | Farah Hadhigle |
| Location | Burao, Togdheer, Somalia |
| Campus | two suburban campuses |
| Website | www.buraouniversity.com |
The University of Burao is an independent university established in 2004 in Burao, Somalia. It has been ranked as the 51st best university in Africa according to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.
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The university has two campuses; the main campus is located in the north-western suburbs (Shab) of Burao, about two kilometers from the center of the city. The site has a fenced area of about 3.75 hectares and consists of:
The second campus is still in the planning stages. It will consist of 25 hectares acquired for the university that are located at about 5 kilometers from the city center.
It has five colleges and two centers:
The first students were registered in September 2004. There are 167 pupils enrolled in four colleges and 430 in a short-term training program designed to upgrade the skills of the primary teachers in the region.
The University has a board of trustees responsible to the Togdheer Development Committee, and a president who is accountable to the Board of Trustees and who is in charge of the day to day affairs of the university.
In the 2004/5 academic year, the university offered two degree courses and a non-degree program in five colleges:
Livestock is the backbone of the nation’s economy. About 50-60% of the population are classified as pastoralists, and another 20% as agro-pastoralists. The 1997 official government statistics estimates total livestock population in the country at around 23.5 million heads. Yet there are only about three dozen qualified veterinarians in the whole country, which means a doctor/stock ratio of about 1: 653,000, and there are no training institutions (apart from a middle level technical institute recently opened in Sheikh), or research facilities to support this vital sector. The aim of this department is to prepare qualified professionals in the field of animal health and husbandry and to carry out research.
According to the Ministry of Education statistics (see appendix 1) 106,480 students are enrolled in both public and private schools in the Scholastic Year 2003/4. The number of teachers serving is 2,590, out of which only 241 have university degrees. This means a teacher/student ratio of 1:41, and a graduate teacher/student ratio of only1:442. Both ratios are extremely low. The reason why there is such a small number of graduate teachers is that the only college, Lafoole (Somali National University) which trained teachers has been closed for the past 13 years due to the civil war.
It aims to:
Islam plays an important role in the Somali society; it is part of its heritage and culture. It provides the basis for social ethos, the code for personal conduct, the tenets of family relations, and the foundation for the nations constitution. There are no proper institutions of higher education for training and accreditation for pre-primary Qur'anic school teachers, nor for Islamic teachers in primary and secondary schools, nor for the imams who provide spiritual guidance to congregations in Mosques, nor for the judges who sit on Islamic Courts, which is part of the judicial system. The aim of the Islamic college is to:
Aims to provide training and technical support to:
Its aim is to:
These will be achieved by:
The significance of this centre emerges from the fact that approximately two thirds of the population live in a rural or semi-rural setting. Their livelihood is under threat due to environmental degradation and climate changes. Large tracks of grazing land and forests have been already lost due to:
The Institute aims to:
The university is keen to establish links and work in partnership with universities, colleges and research institutions. It welcomes exchange of professional staff and students and cooperation in research
The university has a charter and statutes that define its organisational structure, policies and procedures. At the top of its organisational pyramid is Togdheer Development Committee (TDC) which governs the university on behalf of the people of the Togdheer. The TDC elects a Board of trustees, which is the primary decision-making body of the university. The Board of trustees consists of 15 prominent members of the community, including businessmen, professionals, ex-officials and serving officials. The Board nominates, in turn, an executive committee, which consists of a chairman, a vice-chairman, a treasurer and a secretary.
The executive committee is represented by:
The Board appoints a president who is responsible for the day-to-day running of the university and for carrying out decisions. Working with the president is the University Council, who is responsible for academic matters in relation to teaching, research and discipline. The university council consists of the deans of the colleges, the president, the vice president for admission and student affairs, the vice president for academic affairs and the vice president for administration and finance.
There are college and department councils: Each college is headed by a dean and each department is headed by the head of department. The Deans will be responsible for their respective colleges and will be accountable to the President. In addition the University will have a Research and Enterprise unit, charged with the coordination of research carried out by the University’s own colleges and institutes and by international research associates. (See Appendix 2.)
Abroad, the university has fundraising and technical support groups in most of the countries in the Middle East, Europe, Canada and USA.
Burao is the second largest city in the Somaliland region of Somalia. It has a population between 300,000 and 350,000 people. It is an important commercial centre. It has the largest livestock market in the region, and brings together traders from as far as Bossaso in the northeastern Somalia, Luq, on the boundary with Kenya, in the South, and Djibouti in the West.
Like many other cities in the region, it suffered from destruction and internal displacement due to a prolonged civil war in the 1980s. In 1988, almost all its residents were forced to flee for their lives, the majority of its inhabitants ending up in refugee camps in Ethiopia.
Reconstruction started in earnest as soon as people returned to the city in 1991. Primary and pre-primary schools were first repaired. Unfortunately, the process of rehabilitation was twice interrupted by local conflict: first in 1992, and then in 1994. The situation was worsened by the ban on livestock exports to the Middle East in 2000. As the principle livestock market in the country, this had a disproportionate effect on the economy of Burao, and caused its recovery to lag behind that of other main cities.
The city has now enjoyed almost nine years of fairly uninterrupted peace. There is a strong sense of community and a determination to rebuild what has been destroyed, which has created an environment conducive to investment and regeneration. As a result, the city is now going through a fervent period of renewal, rebuilding, and unprecedented expansion. The majority of the city’s primary and secondary schools have been already rebuilt, renovated or restored. According to the statistics of the Somaliland Ministry of Education, there were 31 public and private primary schools in Burao, in which 11,627 students were enrolled in the scholastic year 2003/4. The region as whole had 73 primary schools in which nearly 16,000 students were enrolled. The expansion of secondary education has been equally impressive. The city has now six secondary schools, and a seventh secondary school is under construction.
The first class graduated from Burao secondary schools in 2003, and many more will do so in the coming years. The question facing parents and educators in Burao and the region was ‘What to do with these young secondary school leavers?’ That question was answered with the establishment of the Burao University, which was set up to offer them and others an opportunity for higher education without leaving home.