History
Established in 1999, Shifa University is one of the oldest universities in Somaliland. Guided by a knowledgeable and experienced Board of Trustees (BOT), it has gone through a carefully planned transformation.
It started as an institute of health then became a college of health. After a decade and a half of training 13 batches of nurses, midwives, and lab technicians, and pharmacists who successfully finished the national diploma programmes, it has kept up with the pace of change and shifted to offer the new nationally approved degree programmes in these fields when they were introduced in 2014. The change in the academic programme levels ushered a change in the status of the institution. Hence, it became a full-fledged university after the National Commission of Higher Education (NCHE) approved it’s a new rank and registered it as Shifa University (SU).
SU’s previous Strategic Plan (2010-2015) focused on providing quality health education limited to certain fields whose graduates are usually in high demand in the local market and the international market. Therefore, we confined ourselves to train clinical nurses, midwifes, and lab technicians. Building upon the success we achieved in our previous Strategic Plan, and embracing our current rank as a university, we set out in our new Strategic Plan (2015-2020) to expand and introduce new academic programmes and develop our research activities and output.
In order to deliver this plan, we will lay down six foundations on which its success will be based. First, being at the heart of all our activities, we will focus on the success of our student. We will ensure the development of their learning, personal growth, and professional advancement.
The second foundation is research. Research is the key for major advances in education, economics, industry, health, and communication. Apart from teaching, it is the role of the universities to perform essential research that will generate expert knowledge and educate students to become innovators and scientific leaders. SU is, therefore, committed to foster graduate education and research in order to train a new generation of doctors, scientists, engineers, and leaders in their respective fields.
The third foundation is international linkages and knowledge transfer. Since university education in Somaliland has sprouted recently is now blossoming, SU will link up with more developed and older universities around the world in order to gain academic expertise and facilitate knowledge transfer to its students.
The fourth foundation is university culture. Universities are social organizations with distinctive cultures. Each university is a living organism that evolves in a campus. SU recognizes this principle and is committed to keep alive its people-oriented cultural values which springs out from its history and tradition.
The fifth foundation is organizational systems. Systems have a tendency to expand from being initially simple to becoming complex as they grow. This happens naturally unless the tendency towards complexity is kept in reign. SU will build and maintain a simple, modern, adaptable, and easily accessible organizational system that uses both formal bureaucracy and informal campus networking to achieve its goals. The sixth foundation is the alumni. The benefits of alumni associations are numerous.
Alumni members can get benefits from the university. Likewise, the alumni can provide benefits to the university. Therefore, SU will connect with its alma mater through its alumni association and ensure to tap and develop the mutual benefits that can be accrued from such a connection.
SU is indeed a strong and reputable university, which intends to sustain and enhance its quality and distinction. The focus provided by our new strategic plan will help us to maintain our quality and distinction while setting up priorities to expand and deliver selective programmes relevant to the job market and the national development of the country.
The level engagement and enthusiasm shown by our staff and students this plan gives the confidence that we will achieve our goals.