Thirteen years ago, ATU started with only 23 students in a building it shared with the Institute for Practical Research Institute and Training (IPRT). Today, ATU has five campuses around the country including two campuses in Hargeisa, and large full-facility campuses in Burao, Berbera and Erigavo. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in 21 disciplines. ATU and IPRT have also completed 9 research projects aimed at finding solutions for societal issues. ATU is proud to again, with the support of IPRT, be taking part in the revitalization of the Waaheen market after the devastating inferno of 2021. Seventy-three businesses will be reintegrated into the market with full financial and business training support.
Our undergraduate alumni have been accepted for postgraduate studies in world renowned universities including Columbia, Brandies, Oxford and other highly regarded schools in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 2021, nearly 20% of students selected for the Taiwan scholarships were from ATU, even though we are one of the youngest universities in the nation.
As we move forward into the next five years, our goal remains to provide the best possible education opportunities to our students and to create a center of educational excellence that matches the best educational institutions in Africa and around the world. We value excellence and creativity, and our programs and teaching methodologies reflect these twin values.
Our objective remains to produce qualified, competent, and inspired students who excel in their subjects of study. We continue to target programs that enhance the socioeconomic growth of our society directly. We are working with government, non-governmental institutions, and the business sector to enhance their effectiveness through targeted courses in business intelligence, database management, inventory control and innovative entrepreneurship. In 2023, one of our faculty produced a hospital management software appropriate for the needs of the Somaliland health care industry in Somaliland. The program is already used by several local clinics.
ATU recognizes that a university’s mission goes beyond teaching students and must include serving the community at-large through research new knowledge. We are pleased that our students and faculty undertake quality community outreach projects from training in first aid to providing first-mile primary health care to communities and neighborhoods in need.
In 2023, ATU started a formal program of recognizing and rewarding hard working and high achieving students in a semester end issuance of President’s and Dean’s lists. This Somaliland- first exercise has been very successful. During the first trimester, only 19 students were listed, but in the final trimester of the year 84 students achieved these distinctions.
Our students have also started their own newsletter. This ATU review is student centered, run by the students themselves and highlights issues of importance to them concerning their experience at ATU. I commend our bright students who have taken this important initiative on their own.
— Dr. Ahmed Ese, ATU Founder and President