After the Ruins, a Campus Rises: Hormuud University at 15
When the central government in Somalia collapsed in 1991, so too did the institutions that had supported generations of Somalis — hospitals, civil services, and classrooms. For more than two decades, many of the country’s best-educated professionals left. “It felt like the nation’s memory was walking away,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Abdi Omar Shuriye, who today oversees Hormuud University as it marks its 15th year.
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Founded in 2010 by senior figures at Hormuud Telecommunications, the private, non‑profit university grew out of a pragmatic belief: rebuilding a country requires engineers, teachers, managers and technologists, not only aid. In a city still punctuated by recovery — concrete cranes building new skylines next to narrow, dusty streets — the university has become a quiet engine of renewal.
From telecom roots to a national university
Hormuud University began as a focused response to critical shortages in technical skills. “Hormuud Telecom saw its own need for trained staff and saw a wider gap in the country,” Dr. Shuriye said. The institution started small, with engineering and ICT courses, and has expanded into faculties ranging from agriculture and geoscience to Sharia and leadership.
Today the university operates three campuses and has graduated thousands of students who have become engineers, teachers, public servants and entrepreneurs. Its mix of practical labs, industry links and scholarship programs has positioned it as one of Somalia’s more influential higher‑education institutions.
Alumni in the trenches of reconstruction
Walking through the university’s engineering workshops, you meet alumni whose work is visible in Mogadishu’s rebuilding: a graduate now overseeing a city road project; another installing cell towers for major telecom firms. In public hospitals and government ministries, Hormuud graduates are emerging as administrators, policy advisers and managers.
Their impact is felt across five broad sectors:
- Public sector — municipal, regional and federal roles.
- Private sector — especially telecommunications, construction and finance.
- Nonprofits — both international and local NGOs focused on relief, education and health.
- Entrepreneurship — small businesses and tech start‑ups driven by alumni.
- Global employment and postgraduate study — graduates working or studying across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia.
“I grew up in a displacement camp and thought university would be out of reach,” said Amina Yusuf, a 2018 graduate now running a small ICT training center in Mogadishu. “The entrance scholarship changed my life. It wasn’t just education — it was permission to dream.”
Scholarships, social mobility and international reach
Hormuud University has sought to combine excellence with access. Entrance-exam scholarships and faculty performance awards have put higher education within reach for high‑achieving students from modest backgrounds. The institution also actively supports top graduates to pursue master’s and doctoral study abroad — in countries as varied as the United Kingdom, China, Turkey and Kenya — with the aim that some will return to teach or work in Somalia.
Partnerships and memberships — from the Association of African Universities to MoUs with several Turkish and Malaysian universities — have widened opportunities for research collaboration and student exchange.
Promise and limitations
Yet challenges remain. Somalia still contends with one of the world’s lowest literacy rates, a legacy of prolonged insecurity and displacement. Private universities in fragile states often struggle with accreditation, funding and international recognition. “We are building an academic culture in a context that has little institutional memory,” Dr. Shuriye acknowledged. “It takes time — and patience.”
There is also the pull of migration. Many graduates leave for higher pay or safety abroad, making the university both a nationalist investment and a pipeline feeding the global Somali diaspora. That diaspora, however, can be an asset: alumni overseas serve as bridges for remittances, knowledge transfer and international advocacy.
How education fits into a broader recovery
Somalia’s experience raises broader questions for fragile and post‑conflict societies: can private higher education fill the void left by weak public provision without simply reproducing inequality? Hormuud’s model — anchored by a major domestic company, offering scholarships, and seeking international partnerships — points to one path, but it remains one among many.
Globally, private universities and industry‑backed colleges are multiplying in regions where state capacity is thin. In Africa’s youthful societies, where a third or more of the population is under 25, the pressure to provide meaningful higher education and employment is intense. Hormuud’s focus on engineering and ICT resonates with a wider push on the continent to leverage technology for economic recovery.
Looking ahead
As the university moves into its next decade, leaders say they will deepen research, expand vocational training and strengthen alumni networks. “We want graduates who can shape policy and build infrastructure, but also those who can start a small business and employ ten more people,” said Dr. Shuriye. The university’s track record — producing professionals for government, telecoms and NGOs — suggests it can be both a ladder for individuals and a modest blueprint for national renewal.
Fifteen years on, the campus is less an isolated island than a mirror of Somalia’s uneven recovery: resilient, adaptive, and still unfinished. The question for students, educators and citizens alike is not whether an institution like Hormuud matters — it does — but whether it can be a fulcrum for broader change: more inclusive learning, better jobs and a stronger civil society. If the past 15 years are any guide, the answer will be shaped by a mix of ambition, private initiative and the stubborn work of ordinary people rebuilding their country, one diploma at a time.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
