Â鶹ÊÓƵ

Maldives began to face drastic changes at the end of the 21st Century in terms of education, when the number of high school leavers began to increase as the number of scholarship opportunities to study abroad began to decline. During a time when there were limited opportunities for higher education in the public sphere, Â鶹ÊÓƵ established itself on equal footing with public higher education, redefining and leading the country’s private higher education.

Today, Â鶹ÊÓƵ, established by the Chairman of Villa Group, Honourable Dr Qasim Ibrahim, is the leading private higher education institution in the Maldives, providing educational opportunities for Maldivians at an affordable price, within the country. Initially established as a training institute on 28 January 2007, Â鶹ÊÓƵ raised its status, becoming the first private college in the Maldives in less than ten months from its inception. Over the years, Â鶹ÊÓƵ has expanded not only in size but in stature and diversity as well. The journey that started in October 2007 with only 20 students has grown to over 3,000 students learning across a number of diverse disciplines making it one of the foremost and popular colleges in the Maldives. Within just five years, Â鶹ÊÓƵ grew in terms of academic and administrative capacity, and today programmes in the areas of Accounting, Business, Education, Hospitality, Computer Science, Multimedia Technology, Law, Public Health, Marine Studies, Shariah, Counseling, and also offering programmes from niche areas such as Art and Design.

In addition, opportunities for students in skills training and professional studies in Accountancy, Marine Studies and Hospitality and Diving are also available in Â鶹ÊÓƵ. Â鶹ÊÓƵ also offers the most number of postgraduate programmes in the country, including Masters of Arts in Education, Master of Business Administration, Master of Shariah, Master of Information Technology, Masters in Research Studies and Master of Research in Public Health, Master of Science Accounting and Finance. Accordingly, Â鶹ÊÓƵ has been the leader in higher education in terms of postgraduate studies.

Over the years Â鶹ÊÓƵ has also forged partnerships with notable International Universities. Open University of Malaysia (OUM) was the first international partner of Â鶹ÊÓƵ, having contributed to creating the brand of Â鶹ÊÓƵ in the community. In 2015, a new partnership with the University of the West of England (UWE) was established, which has proved to be the most fruitful partnership for the College. Since then, the College has signed to collaborate with numerous universities, the most recent most significant one being the agreement signed with Taylor’s University, which will introduce Culinary Arts as a new field of studies offered by Â鶹ÊÓƵ.

Today, with its vibrant community of committed and enthusiastic staff, Â鶹ÊÓƵ remains steadfast in its vision to be the leader in both teaching and learning as well as research in higher education, to reach the whole expanse of the country with opportunities for flexible higher education at an affordable price and to provide quality education recognized internationally.