University of Asmara


The University of Asmara was a public university in Asmara, Eritrea. The nation's first university, it was founded in 1958 by the "Piae Madres Nigritiae". The school was meant to provide for the local population, though its initial enrollment in the 1950s was entirely Italian.

History

The university was founded in 1958, albeit by a different name, the "Catholic College of Santa Famiglia". Indeed in 1940 Dr. Vincenzo Di Meglio promoted the creation of the "School of Medicine" in Italian Asmara, under the direction of Prof. Ferro Luzzi. After WW2 this first university in Asmara was created with some of the teachers of the "School of Medicine".
By 1964, the university had been renamed and began offering Associate Diploma programs in the Arts, Commerce, and the Sciences.
In 1979 the new president pushed through a major reorganization of the curriculum and structure. The next years saw an increase in students from 300 to 2,700. New courses, staff, day and evening extension programs and campus buildings revived the university, together with a bilateral agreement to exchange students and faculty with the University of Addis Ababa, particularly focusing on graduate training in Addis Ababa to produce faculty for Eritrea. In the 1980s, the Arid Zone Agricultural College was established as a faculty.

After Eritrean independence

The university stopped new student enrollments in 2003. In 2003, the government issued a directive re-configuring and prospective students are directed to one of five tertiary education institutions that opened after new admission to the university was stopped.
The Eritrea Institute of Technology is currently the biggest higher education institute in the country.
The Eritrean government's claim that the university was restructured and its resources reallocated to new institutions of higher education in order to grow student population is criticized by many. Critics claim the closing of the university was a political move aimed at increasing the government's control over college students.