University of Abuja

The University of Abuja was established on 1 January 1988 as a federal university with an unusual mandate for Nigeria at the time: it was created as a dual-mode institution combining conventional university education with distance learning. Its establishment was directly connected to the development of Abuja as Nigeria's Federal Capital and the need for a higher-education institution within the new capital capable of serving students through both conventional and flexible modes of study. Academic work began in 1990 from the university's temporary campus at Gwagwalada, while land was allocated along the Abuja-Airport Road for its permanent campus.
The institution's original structure comprised three colleges covering Arts and Education, Law, Management and Social Sciences, and Science and Agriculture. It subsequently expanded into a multidisciplinary federal university with faculties and colleges covering areas including medicine and health sciences, engineering, law, education, agriculture, science, social sciences, management, environmental studies and other professional disciplines. Its continuing dual-mode mandate has also produced a substantial distance-learning system through the Centre for Distance Learning and Continuing Education.