Information on the admission of army officers to the National University of Mogadishu before 1985 [SOM12072]

According to a former teacher at the National University of Somalia who is currently residing in Canada, it was not very common to see army officers studying at the University of Mogadishu before 1985 (2 Nov. 1992). Nevertheless, there were officers studying at the university, some of whom were sent by the Ministry of Defence to study fields that were of interest to the armed forces, such as medicine (Ibid.).

According to a former director of education of Somalia who is currently residing in Canada, the University of Somalia had some students who were in the armed forces (2 Nov. 1992). In the late 1980s a number of seats in the university were reserved for the military, although in the early eighties there was not a large number of officers attending university nor a systematic effort to make it so (Ibid.). In this period, most military officers who pursued further studies attended the military academies of Somalia and other countries (Ibid.).

According to the manager of the Centre for Italian Scholastic and Technical Organizations (COSTI), who is familiar with the education system of Somalia, officers of the armed forces were allowed to attend university (2 Nov. 1992). Officers were sometimes granted leave or given a job in the armed forces that, due to its location or time requirements, would allow the person to take university courses (Ibid.). The granting of permission to attend university, whether as an assignment or for personal purposes, depended largely on the individual's boss or his supervising authorities (Ibid.).

Please find attached a document that provides some information on the training of officers of the armed forces of Somalia.

Additional and/or corroborating information could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB.

References


Centre for Italian Scholastic and Technical Organizations (COSTI), Toronto. 2 November 1992. Telephone Interview with Manager.

Former Teacher of the University of Somalia. 2 November 1992. Telephone Interview.

Former Director of Education of Somalia. 2 November 1992. Telephone Interview.

Attachment

Nelson, Harold D., ed. 1982. Area Handbook Series: Somalia: A Country Study. Washington: American University, Foreign Area Studies, pp. 252-257.