The idea to establish an educational institution started in June 1997, after which time it took five years to develop and open the university. It opened in September 1997 as a non-governmental, non-profit institution for higher learning, governed by a Board of Trustees and a University Council.
Mogadishu University campus
Mogadishu University has relocated its activities to its Main campus on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
The main campus in Mogadishu was initiated with the assistance of the Islamic Development Bank, among other donors. In 2008, Mogadishu University opened another campus in Bosaso in the northeastern Puntland state of Somalia, which recently formed into an independent University called Red Sea University in Somalia.
The institution has been invited to join the Somali Aid Coordination Body (SACB) Educational Sector Committee. On 21 September 2004, the MU representatives Fathudin Mohamed, Westley Bii and Hussein M. Iman (MU Program Director) attended the SACB Educational Sector Committee meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
Two delegates from MU, Abdurahman Moalim Abdullahi, the Chairman of Board of Trustees and Abdullahi Farah Asseyr, Adviser of the President and Head of faculty of Health Sciences Affairs at MU, paid a 10-day visit to Norway during which they signed a partnership agreement with the University of Tromsø.
Admission
The university accepts students who have graduated from secondary schools or those who have GCE equivalent certificates. Before enrolment, students have to pass a qualifying examinations (oral and written) in order to enroll in their program of study.
Institutes and centers
University institutes and centers are:
The Institute for Somali Studies (ISOS)
Institute of Peace and Environment
The Institute of Languages
The Center for Community Services and Continuing Education
MU Legal Clinic
Somali Center for Water & Environment
Mother & Child Educational Care (MCEC)
Media Training Center (MTC)
Research Unit
MU-IRB
Radio Himilo
Faculties
The university has nine faculties, which award BA and B.Sc degrees. The university's faculties are:
Faculty of Sharia and Law
Faculty of Education and Humanities
Faculty of Economics & Management Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology
Faculty of Political Sciences & Public Administration