St Mary's University College

St. Mary’s University (SMU), established in 1998, is a prominent Ethiopian institution of higher learning located in the capital of the country, Addis Ababa. The University College is private, young, and dynamic. From the outset, it set up as its mission the provision of quality instruction for its students, research works, academic material production, as well as professional consultancy for the growing needs of Ethiopia and its citizens. Recognizing the complexity of the current world and the multi-ethnic heritage of Ethiopia, the university college has promoted from the start an atmosphere of openness, tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation.

At present, St. Mary’s University has four main campuses in Addis Ababa, 13 major Distance Education Regional centers, and 160 Coordination offices spreading throughout the country. The University College has over 200 full time academic staff, close to six thousand students in the undergraduate conventional mode of learning, and about thirty thousand students enrolled in distance education programs. It also has close to 2000 students in its graduate programs. Eight graduate programs are run in partnership with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). These programs include Business Administration, Public Administration, Library and Information Science, Sociology, Economics, Commerce, Rural Development and Political Science in the distance mode of learning. In the conventional mode of learning, SMU is accredited for two graduate programs; MBA and HRM. Expanding its services, SMU has also opened a K-12 school that would widen its reach to general education.

As part of its commitment to community services, the university has organized and sponsored national annual conferences focusing on private higher education since 2003. In addition, it also publishes three bi-annual journals in three disciplines; agriculture, business, and law. Almost all the articles in the proceedings and journals are made available in its website at www.smuc.edu.et.

SMU is a member of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and an associate member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE).
Mission
The Mission of St. Mary’s University is to offer conventional and distance education that is accessible to the larger society through reasonable tuition focusing on quality and standards in teaching, research and outreach services.