Gollis University

Was founded in 2004 as a non-profit institution, opened to students for enrollment in 2005, and was upgraded to a university within 10 months of its opening. Starting with 40 criminal justice and 40 civil engineering students, the student population reached 706 at the end of 2007. The University operates one campus at Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, and intends to open the main campus with its residence halls and sports facilities as soon as the key facilities are completed. The tuition fees from students ($500.00/student/year) are the main source of income for the University. In-house demographic growth projections indicate that the Somaliland University age students are expected to increase by more than four fold, in the next 5-10 years, creating new opportunities for the higher education institutions. This rapid growth will challenge the higher education institutions to provide a comprehensive capital development plan to deal not only with the need for new facilities but further to provide improvements at the existing facilities and the infrastructure to support the academic and operational requirements of the entire country. Funding for the capital development can only come from few sources, namely donations from the Diaspora, international organizations such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, UN agencies, and international foundations that support global development in education.