Our History
The story of African Virtual Campus University (AVCU) is clearly a story of distinction, and an experiment which began in April 2017, when our founder Joseph Isaac engaged a few colleagues from the US, UK, Liberia and Ghana to float the idea of establishing an online college that would conciliate the unique challenges of African higher education. The idea was encouraged, however, as it is with most ideas, moral support was in abundance, but a clear funding strategy was not available to advance the idea. So, initially, in 2017, African Virtual Campus (AVC) was founded and registered in Liberia to offer professional development classes and training programs for educators. The plan was to create an organization that would become the foundation of an accredited higher education institution. A handful of workshops were offered for institutions in 2018 and 2019 while efforts to elevate the organization continued. In July 2019, Joe began to reach out to additional business leaders and other colleagues with direct solicitation of partnership and support to boost the idea. By November 2019, the partnership to rebrand African Virtual Campus as an online learning support corporation was formalized between several information technology and higher education professionals, a partnership was formed between Joseph Isaac, Richard Allen, Henry Gould, and Charles Merab, and AVC was registered in the US. With registration in the US and Liberia, AVC obtained an education domain, and by August 2020, the development of its first online learning platform entitled avcLMS for professional development was completed. The team went on to complete its first eLearning platform for K-12 education and began testing that. In July 2021, the platform was expanded to include higher education, and named BOIMA. First level testing of BOIMA was completed by September 2021. Thereafter, an agreement was reached with Cuttington University to conduct institutional piloting of BOIMA. By this time, a fifth partner, Quaye Kandakai joined the team, and Level 2 pilot was concluded in July 2022.
All along, the period of August 2019 to April 2022 was an exciting time for developing, testing and refining BOIMA, as well as developing curricula for the pending university. With the unique background and experience of its partners and other interested individuals, the decision to establish AVC University was made, the University Board of Trustees was formed, and application submitted to the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) of Liberia for accreditation. At one of its regular Board meetings in January 2023, the NCHE approved AVC University to operate as an online university with face to face options. What began as an experiment of how to improve the way we deliver education to citizens of the world with “quality and speed” has led us to a brand that encourages online learning with hybrid as an option in select locations. AVC University is committed to enhancing this exceptional brand of online learning.