The Afghan government is actively planning for the country's first private university. The American University of Afghanistan is to be American-style, with English-language instruction and mainly American professors. It is to open as an undergraduate institution, with graduate programs in the future. The Afghan Ministry of Higher Education has contracted an American organization for expertise on foreign institution building and is obtaining U.S. government funds. There will be a 10-month feasibility study from this summer, with the university slated to open shortly thereafter.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with the Afghan Government and other private donors to establish the private American University of Afghanistan set to open in 2006. Targeting 1,100 undergraduates from Afghanistan and neighboring countries, the university will offer programs in management, liberal arts, and communications, all taught in English. Additionally, President Karzai has emphasized that educational development is crucial to national development.
In March the American University of Afghanistan will open its doors here, introducing a new kind of higher education to the country. A private institution with an international faculty that will...
The growth has been possible in part because Afghan leaders realized that the country’s public universities, decimated by years of war, couldn’t meet the demand for seats. So in 2006 they legalized private higher education.