Marlee Burns

Barwaaqo University

Barwaaqo University is women's teacher training college located in Baliga Cas, Somaliland. Barwaaqo University opened in the Fall of 2017 as a higher learning institution teaching young women to become educators in Somaliland. Barwaaqo is the second education institution supported by the Abaarso Network, the first is the Abaarso School of Science & Technology, featured in the New York Times and BBC World, a non-profit boarding school educating the best and the brightest Somali students in the Horn of Africa. The schools are located outside of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a breakaway, self-governing region of Somalia. Barwaaqo University builds on Abaarso's success and the need for a quality local university. Barwaaqo replicates and scales the Abaarso education system that focuses on core fundamentals and character education. The school encourages ethics and a strong sense of responsibility for improving the students' community. While only founded in 2009, Abaarso School has achieved success not seen in the area for several decades. After four graduating classes, Abaarso has placed over 160 Somali students on international scholarships including dozens in the United States. Abaarso School graduates are enrolled at top schools including Harvard, Yale, Brown, MIT, Georgetown, Amherst, Brandeis, and many more.