# Jigjiga University (Jaamacadda Jigjiga), Somali Region of Ethiopia

> Jigjiga University in the Somali Region of Ethiopia: founded 2007, its colleges, Somali language institute, staff, students and graduates.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/institutions/jigjiga-university/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## In short

Jigjiga University (JJU) is a public university in Jigjiga (Jijiga), capital of the Somali Region of Ethiopia, 635 km from Addis Ababa ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jijiga_University)). It was one of 13 new government universities founded in Ethiopia at that time (same source).

## How it grew

- **2007:** opened with 714 students ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jijiga_University)).
- **2008:** about 1,500 students (same source).
- **2009:** about 2,800 students (same source).
- **Today:** an intake capacity of 21,379, and 23,204 graduates between 2009 and 2017, by the university's own figures ([Jigjiga University](https://www.jju.edu.et/)).

The Faculty of Law was formed in 2004, before the university, and planned its first graduates for July 2009 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jijiga_University)). It took about 60 regular students a year and more than 500 working students in summer courses (same source).

## Colleges, schools and institutes

The university lists ([Jigjiga University](https://www.jju.edu.et/)):

- **Colleges:** Institute of Technology; Medicine and Health Science; Dryland Agriculture; Education and Behavioural Studies; Veterinary Medicine; Business and Economics; Social Sciences and Humanities; Natural and Computational Science.
- **Schools:** Law; Psychology; Graduate Studies.
- **Institute:** Somali Language and Literature Studies.

## Somali Language and Literature Studies

The Institute of Somali Language and Literature Studies opened at the start of 2006 in the Ethiopian calendar, which is 2013 to 2014 ([Jigjiga University, ISLLS](https://www.jju.edu.et/ISLLS.php)). It offers a degree in regular, summer and evening (extension) modes (same source). About 46 students graduated in its first class, which the university calls the first degree-level graduates in the history of Somali language study (same source).

Its research covers (same source):

- an inventory of the Somali Region's heritage
- traditional dry-season grazing among Somali herders
- traditional Somali marriage practices
- the oral literature of herders and farmer-herders

It has trained Af-Somali teachers in Fafan zone and held a symposium on links between Somali and Amharic (same source).

## Staff and facilities

JJU reports 722 academic staff, 53 expatriate staff and 758 non-teaching staff, with 168 staff housing units ([Jigjiga University](https://www.jju.edu.et/)). It runs a referral hospital and research sites for poultry, farming and a plant nursery (same source).

## Read more

- [Somalis in Ethiopia](/en/diaspora/ethiopia/)
- [Universities in Somalia](/en/society/universities-in-somalia/)

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.