-Pres. Boakai calls for the Board of Trustees to convene
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., has issued a formal directive to the Secretary of the Board of Trustees and President of the University of Liberia.
The directive, which was communicated on May 27, 2024, mandates the immediate convening of a Board meeting to formalize the establishment of a Search Committee tasked with identifying and selecting the new leadership of the University, in strict adherence to the University’s charter.
President Boakai has underscored the critical importance of expeditiously forming the committee to ensure seamless continuity and stability at the University.
This pivotal directive issued nearly three weeks ago, emphatically underscores the urgency and gravity of this matter.
The Visitor to the University expressed his expectation of an unwavering commitment from the administration and the Board of Trustees and anticipates their swift and resolute action to address this vital issue, ensuring an efficient and transparent transition of leadership within the University of Liberia.
The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia College. UL has four campuses: the Capitol Hill Campus in Monrovia, the Fendall campus in Louisiana, outside Monrovia, the Medical School Campus in Congo Town, and the Straz-Sinje Campus in Sinje Grand Cape Mount County. The university enrolls approximately 18,000 students and is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in West Africa. It is accredited by the Liberian Commission on Higher Education.
The University of Liberia (UL) is the oldest degree-granting school in West Africa,[10] and is accredited by Liberia’s Commission on Higher Education.
As of 2019, 18,753 students were enrolled at the university in all departments, of which 12,278 were male and 6,422 were female. This made the university the largest by enrollment in Liberia. UL had 331 faculty members then. The faculty was male-dominated, with 304 men and 27 women.
Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, the only law school in Liberia, was added to the university in 1951. The A. M. Dogliotti College of Medicine was opened in a partnership between Italy’s A. M. Dogliotti Foundation and the government of Liberia.
Following Liberia’s independence in 1847, In 1851, the new national legislature authorized the creation of a state college and chartered Liberia College. Financing was provided by the New York Colonization Society and the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, both United States organizations. These two groups provided almost all of the funds for the school during the 19th century and were responsible for hiring the faculty.
After authorization, groups from Clay-Ashland and Monrovia maneuvered in political circles in an attempt to have the school in their cities, with the location eventually chosen as the capital city. This political battle delayed the foundation; on 25 January 1858, the cornerstone of the first building was laid in Monrovia.[2] In January 1862, the school was inaugurated, with classes beginning in 1863. The nation’s first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, became the school’s first president in 1862 and served in that post until 1876.
