Gollis University is committed to excellence in education in addition to fostering an environment that enables students to assume roles of responsibility and leadership. Gollis University provides students with a foundation for lifelong intellectual growth and learning as well as the practical means for a fulfilling career. Gollis University will serve as a fully accredited baccalaureate & masters-granting institution. Gollis University also serves a rapidly growing population of younger generations and learners who desire to complete their degrees through an innovative and relevant programs designed to address the needs of a developing country. Nestled on the top of a beautiful hill, Gollis University will be known for its high quality programs. Beyond the classroom, there will be a variety of activities such as homework clubs and extra-curricular events that develop leadership skills and provide advancement opportunities. From a new campus outside the city of Hargeisa and a new extension inside the city to new degree offerings, our present and our future is bright. Our goal is to provide students with the kind of environment that creates a multitude of possibilities for academic and personal growth. The University is the first and the only higher education institution offering Civil Engineering and MBA programs in the Somali Region. These are but a few of the many highlights that make Gollis University unique.

Gollis College serves the entire Hargeisa Region and receives students from portions of the other five regions. Gollis College was founded in 2004 and opened its doors to students. The College operates one campus at Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, and intends to open the main campus with its residence halls and sports facilities as soon as the key facilities are completed.

Demographic growth projections indicate that the Somaliland college age students are expected to increase by more than four fold, in the next 5-10 years, creating new opportunities for the higher education institutions. This rapid growth will challenge the higher education institutions to provide a comprehensive capital development plan to deal not only with the need for new facilities but further to provide improvements at the existing facilities and the infrastructure to support the academic and operational requirements of the entire country. Funding for the capital development can only come from few sources, namely donations from the Diaspora, international organizations such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, UN agencies, and international foundations that support global development in education.

Gollis is a non-profit institution and is deliberately a mid size university: the average class size will be 25-30; boarding houses will accommodate no more than 4 to a room; the staff/student ratio will be low; the college will provide personal tutors to students; all students will be encouraged to feel that they have a part to play and a significant contribution to make to the life of the campus. The university will teach a wide variety of associate degree and certificate programs and would look for high academic standards and would aim to stimulate the curiosity and imagination of its students both inside and outside the classroom.

VISION STATEMENT

Gollis University aspires to become a distinguished research university in the Horn of Africa.  We will be known for our teaching excellence, research and innovative achievements, and civic, social, and cultural contributions.

For all of our constituents, we will serve as a source of intellectual and developmental enrichment on two levels:

Source for Individual Empowerment: Gollis university will assist students, faculty, staff, and community members in their intellectual and social growth in reaching their full personal potential, so that they will lead the economic development of the country and become active citizens and the cream of the crop in their families, professions, organizations, and communities.

Source for Economic Development: Gollis university will become a center for advanced technology and the pre-eminent educational force for economic development in horn of Africa.  Gollis College will supply its community with knowledgeable and skilled graduates, and will provide a wide array of life-long activities to maintain and improve the skills of professionals in the community.

In-addition, students will acquire, wisdom, knowledge, skills development, training and a humanitarian way of viewing their environment and the world, which will accommodate peace and stability in their community. Thus generating young people possessing qualities of character, leadership, and service to their country and to mankind and humanity as well.

MISSION STATEMENT

OUR CORE VALUES

At Gollis University, we recognize that the success of our students and essential contribution to the prosperity, vitality, and leadership of our Nation is our ultimate objective. We believe that our objectives will be realized through our attitudes, decisions, and actions as reflected in the following values:

Learning: 

We value learning in all its forms—classroom instruction, independent study, co-curricular learning, faculty research, creative achievement, and the study and improvement of our own academic and administrative processes.  Learning involves developing an appreciation for people from diverse backgrounds or who exhibit diverse types of thinking.

Respect, Trust, Fairness:

We value each other as persons and treat each other with equity.

Excellence:

We strive for excellence in our people and programs and take pride
in the celebration of our achievements.

Open, Effective Communication:
We encourage active and honest sharing of ideas and information,
listening carefully and respecting the opinions of others.

Participation:

We promote teamwork and joint decision-making. Cooperation and partnerships guide our work life.

Innovation:

We value continual innovation in all our processes, including our core processes of teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity, and outreach

Specific objectives to support these goals include that each student enrolled in the proposed Gollis College Campus should:

• Develop competence in reading, writing, speaking and listening to English.
• Acquire knowledge of the world through the study of physical and biological sciences.
• Develop a theoretical and functional knowledge of mathematics.
• Learn about the history and structure of the Somali and international societies and prepare for active, responsible participation in the political, social, and economic affairs of the community and nation.
• Find enjoyment in learning and acquire the skills necessary for a lifetime of continuous education for adaptation to change positively.
• Develop an understanding of and the skills necessary for physical education and health education to promote bodily and mental health throughout life.
• Acquire information and exposure necessary for career decisions and have the opportunity to acquire professional skills such as Business, Management, Accounting, and Computer Science.
• Develop critical and creative thinking processes and facility in problem solving and conflict resolution.

In pursuit of the above mentioned goals the university would:

• Provide talented, dedicated, and caring faculty and staff that provide a balanced curriculum which combines moral and peace studies with academic programs recognized internationally for excellence including the latest in computer science.
• Provide enrichment programs and services for the special needs of students.
• Focus on the development of consistent study habits and improved organizational and time management.
• Measure the extent to which goals are realized against the Key Goal Performance Measures. 
• Teach personal responsibility and accountability.
• Conduct its activities to encourage staff, parents, citizens, stakeholders, concerned educationists, and students to make recommendations and be involved in the decision making process concerning the school.
• Encourage students to recognize, appreciate, and strive for excellence.
• Help students to recognize their own self-worth and to recognize and appreciate the worth of all
• Human beings and the environment.
• Provide a safe, clean, attractive, nurturing, structured, and disciplined school environment with faculty supervision and without the endless distractions found in many other school settings to foster and reinforce Islamic attitudes and behaviors.

GOLLIS UNIVERSITY STRATEGIC AGENDA

Gollis University will strive to:

a)          Improve access to Higher Education for those students who have been disadvantaged or who would not normally consider entering Higher Education because of the few post-secondary education opportunities available to them prior to the establishment of Gollis College.

b)          Support regional economic expansion by preparing highly skilled graduates in fields that align with the employment needs in the region, building bridges between the business and Gollis College community, and providing post-secondary education and training to support economic competitiveness

c)          Deliver high quality globally recognized educational programs to its students. The rationale for this notion is that it will enable students to progress, in a forward direction, through technical/vocational education addressing the individual needs of the student as well as the needs of Somaliland.

d)          Be engaged in working with the surrounding communities in fostering the well-being of the entire region.

Implementing the briefly summarized Gollis University’s Strategic Agenda shown below will fulfill the above concept:

“Gollis University will build partnerships with globally recognized high quality universities and colleges to serve its learning needs and to enhance the learning opportunities available to the faculty, staff, and students of both institutions.”

Furthermore, forming a partnership with a globally recognized higher education institution will enable Gollis University attain the following Milestones:

·            Strengthened teaching, research, administrative, and public      service capacity for all partner institutions;

·            Establishment, expansion, or reform of educational programs;

·            New pedagogical models and educational materials;

·            Collaborative research; and,

·            Outreach to local communities and relevant professional, non-governmental and government entities.