Njala University (NU) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...

located in Njala and Bo,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. It is the second largest university in Sierra Leone (after the

Fourah Bay College Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-l ...

) and is also part of the

University of Sierra Leone The University of Sierra Leone is the name of the former unitary public university system in Sierra Leone. Established in February 1827, it is the oldest university in Africa. As of May 2005, the University of Sierra Leone was reconstituted in ...

. The largest and main

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-li ...

of Njala University is in Njala, Moyamba District; the other campus is Bo, the second largest city in Sierra Leone.

History

NU was originally created as part of the

(USL) in 1964 with the help of

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

and offered degrees in conjunction with the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

. Subsequent legislation in 1972 paired Fourah Bay and Njala under the University of Sierra Leone act, where the presidents of each institution switched the presidency of the USL on a biennial basis. This continued until 2005, when the university act separated Fourah Bay and NU into distinct institutions independently run.

Statistics

In the 1999–2000 academic year, NU had 722 male students and 98 female, which equated to approximately 27% of Sierra Leonean college students. It had 436 male staff and 98 females.

Current schools

The university commenced in August 2005 with the founding of 6 schools: * School of Education * School of Community Health Services * School of Social Sciences * School of Agriculture * School of Environmental Sciences * School of Technology

Bo campus

Bo campus has three schools, Education, Community Health Services and Social Sciences.

Njala campus

Njala campus has the other three schools, including Agriculture, Environmental Sciences and Technology as well as the university secretariat. However, as of the 2005-2006 year, New England Ville in Freetown was temporarily home to all of Njala's facilities, pending the rebuilding of Njala's campus.

Notable people

* Monty Jones, executive director of FARA "and Co-winner of the prestigious 2004 World Food Prize, awarded for his discovery of the genetic process to create the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) *

Alie Badara Mansaray Alie Badara Mansaray has been Commissioner of the Sierra Leone National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) since December 2014. He graduated from Njala University with a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education in 1983 and an MA in Developme ...

, commissioner of the Sierra Leone National Commission for Social Action *Dr S T Matturi, former principal of Njala University College and Sierra Leone's high commissioner to the UK during which time he played a crucial part in the twinning of Hull City and Freetown see link http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/portal/page?_pageid=221,52466&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL * Prof. Paul Richards, retired from

Wageningen University Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

, teaches and researches at Njala since 2014. *

Joe Robert Pemagbi Joe Robert Pemagbi (born 22 November 1945 in Bo, British Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean diplomat. He has been the Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated ...

, current ambassador from Sierra Leone to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

and former dean and head of language department. *Dr. Julius Spencer, Sierra Leonean movie actor and director, poet and playwright, journalist, and former Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the war-years and co-founder of the

Campaign for Good Governance The Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) is democracy-supporting NGO in Sierra Leone. CGG promotes the building of democratic institutions, transparency and accountability in government, active citizen participation in the political process, voter edu ...

Kandeh Yumkella Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (born July 5, 1959) is a Sierra Leonean agricultural economist, politician, and the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy ...

, director-general of UNIDO

References

External links

Official University website

{{Authority control Njala University Educational institutions established in 1964 1964 establishments in Sierra Leone