Modern higher Education has a relatively long history in Afghanistan. The first institution to offer degree level courses was Kabul University (KU) which has grown over time as several faculties were established at KU from 1930s to 1970s.  Faculties at KU had strong affiliation with well established universities in the USA, Germany, France, USSR and India. The second and third institutions which offer degree level course were Ningarhar University and Kabul Polytechnic respectively. Higher education was making steady progress in late 1970s

The Afghan government was the main employer for the graduates of most educational institutions including higher education. Before the Communist takeover of the country, 1978, the development in various industrial and commercial sectors in Afghanistan was progressing rapidly. The government took initiative for a major expansion of scientific based subjects Therefore, the number of students entering the universities were increased tremendously. Examples of such expansion were the increase in the number of students (both male and female) to the Faculty of Engineering from 250 per annum to over 1000 per annum in 1977, and the founding of an additional Engineering programme at Nangarhar University.

The higher education system like all the other sectors were abruptly during the communist regime, 1978 to 1992, the educational system was downgraded systematically, and many male students over the age of fifteen were either conscripted to the military or forced to leave the country to avoid military drafting. Many of the faculty members and other intellectuals who were found to be unsympathetic to the new communist government were imprisoned, killed, or forced to leave the country in order to avoid persecution.

Those academics that stayed behind were isolated from the rest of the world and remained detached from the enhancement of education, knowledge, and the development of new technologies. The colleges and universities infrastructure suffered in the wars; for instance, laboratory equipment and libraries have been looted or burned, and most of the buildings of the educational institutes have been damaged. Furthermore, the curricula have been stagnated for decades and neither has there been staff development of suitably qualified and experienced academics or technical staff that were able to educate the students to face the challenges in Afghanistan in the 21^st century.

After the withdrawal of soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of the Communist government in 1992, a more chaotic situation, and civil war conditions prevailed in the country. The buildings and limited facilities of the higher educational institutions were severely damaged or totally destroyed in all major cities. Laboratory equipment, furniture, and libraries were looted and in some cases burned to ashes.

After the intervention of the international community in 2001 and the subsequent establishment of the new government in 2002, some progress has been made to rebuild the education sector specifically in engineering and Technical Vocational Education (TVE).  

Efforts have been made to improve the higher education sector in the country during the last two decades; examples of a few improvements have been in the following areas:

• The establishment of new universities and higher education institutions
• Increase in the number of students
• Training of junior lecturers at universities in the developed world
• Reforming the university entry exam (Kankoor)   
• Improving physical infrastructure of selected Afghan universities.

Despite of the limited progress, the education systems in the country encounter many challenges including the following:

• Low quality of higher education
• Lack of suitably experienced academic and technical staff
• Poor management practices
• Lack of learning resources including laboratories
• Lack of commitment by some academics
• Lack of further training and professional development for graduates
• Limited employment opportunities

This website has been prepared with the main aim to improve the quality of higher education by introducing international standards into the higher education system in Afghanistan.

Specific objectives of this website are to:

• Introduce international practices into the higher education sector in Afghanistan
• Supply resource centre for researchers and academics
• Provide a platform where researchers can publish their blogs on issues related to higher education in Afghanistan
• Create links between the academics and researchers in Afghanistan with their counterparts at international level.

The author who developed this website has over thirty year teaching and research experience at a university in the United Kingdom (UK). Part of his research has been concentrated on the higher education development in Afghanistan.  This website has been not developed with any kind of support from any project or organisation but such development is his personal contribution and the content of the website is dedicated to the innocent people of Afghanistan. It is hoped that policy makers, academics and students will benefit from the information presented in this website.