Burao University

Infobox University
name = University of Burao


motto = Cilmi, Iimaan, Tacab
Knowledge, Faith and effort.
established = 27 September 2004
type = Public
chancellor = Mohmoud Adan Dher
vice_chancellor = Farah Hadhigle
city = Burao
state = Togdheer
country = Somalia
campus = 2 suburban campuses.
website = [http://www.buraouniversity.com/ www.buraouniversity.com]

The University of Burao is an independent university established in 2004 in Burao, Somalia. It has been ranked as 51st ranking university in Africa according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Campuses

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:

* Sports ground
* Lecture hall
* Classrooms
* Computer centre
* Photocopying centre
* Library
* Office block
* Cafeteria
* Prayers room (Mosque)

The second campus is still in the planning stage. It will consist of 25 hectares acquired for the university located at about 5 kilometers from the city center.

It has five colleges and two centers:
* College of Education
* College of Veterinary Medicine
* College of Business
* College of Islamic Studies
* College of Continuing Education
* Center for Somali Studies
* Institute of Rural Development and Environmental Studies

The first students were registered in September 2004. There are 167 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 Togdheer Development Committee, and a president who is accountable to the Board of Trustees and in charge of the day to day affairs of the university.

In the academic year 2004/5, the university offered two degree courses and a non-degree program in five colleges, i.e.

* The College of Veterinary Medicine
* The College of Education
* The College of Business and Finance
* The College of Islamic Jurisprudence
* The College of continuing education and community development

College of Veterinary Medicine

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.

College of Education

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.

College of Business and Finance

It aims to:

* Prepare a new corps of professionals in business and finance
* Nurture entrepreneurship
* Play a leading role in the development of financial institutions
* Carry out business research
* Provide technical support to the business community
* Organize business seminars and conferences and exhibitions

College of Islamic Studies

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:

* Further the knowledge of Islam (Qur'an, Hadith, law, ethics, thought, history, geography, economics, etc,).
* Prepare qualified Islamic teachers, preachers and judges
* Re-train and accredit existing teachers, preachers and judges

College of Continuing Education and Community Development

Aims to provide training and technical support to:

* Private sector entrepreneurs and employees
* Public sector workers
* Voluntary sector staff and volunteers
* Unemployed

Center for Somali Studies

Its aim is to:

*To study and advance the Somali Language and literature
*To safeguard and preserve the Somali culture and heritage
*To document and analyze Somali history and political development

These will be achieved by:

* Undertaking research
* Organizing seminars, symposia and conferences
* Offering courses at the centre and on the internet
* Produce regular publications
* Establish a library and an archive for records in print, microfiche, tape, electronic and film
* Create a museum for photographic records, paintings, memorabilia, artefacts etc.

The Institute of Rural Development and Environmental Studies

The significance of this centre emerges from the fact that approximately two third 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:
* Overgrazing
* Deforestation
* Frequent droughts and
* Lack of proper land management

The Institute aims to:
* Carry out research into the causes of environmental degradation
* Monitor environmental degradation and the effects of such degradation on the lives of the pastoral community
* Raise national and international awareness of the environmental problems facing the rural population
* Carry out a national survey of the flora and the fauna stock
* Build and maintain a data bank on rural ecosystems
* Publish and promote research results
* Promote good range and forestry management
* Provide training on rural development issues
* Link up with similar institutions world wide

Partnerships

The University is keen to establish links and work in partnership with other universities, colleges and research institutions. It welcomes exchange of professional staff and students and cooperation in research

Organisational Structure

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 (The T D C) 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:

* Mohamud Adan Dheri (former governor) Chairman
* Farah Yusuf Hadhigele (Businessman) Vice Chairman
* Mohamed Hussien Adan (former mayor) Treasurer
* Dr. Issa Nur Liban (veterinary doctor) Secretary

The Board also 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 also college and department councils where each college is headed by a dean and each department is headed by 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.

Structure: http://www.buraouniversity.com/images/structure2.jpg

Officials

* Chairman: Mohmoud Adan Dher
* Vice-chairman: Farah Hadhigle
* Secretary: Dr Issea Nuur
* Treasurer: Cabdifatax Cismaan Cige

History and background

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 had previously 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. When they came back home in 1991, they returned to a ghost town stripped of every thing of value that could be moved or removed. Almost all the dwellings in the city were either roofless or without windows, or both. Many of them were left in ruins, and the streets were conquered by natural vegetation in the absence of human population for nearly three years. Public facilities, including schools were not spared destruction. Before the civil war, the town had a technical school, and a vocational school for range management. Both of them were national institutions. It had also two secondary schools (Sh. Bashir, and Sh. Osman Nur). All of them were looted, and damaged extensively.

Reconstruction started in earnest as soon as people returned to the city. 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 and rebuilding and is enjoying an 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 (see Table 1). 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 which parents and educators in Burao and the region have faced until now has been, ‘What to do with these young secondary school leavers?’ That question has been finally answered with the establishment of the university of Burao, which has been set up to offer them and others an opportunity for higher education without leaving home.