More than 500 Somali students are now sitting their annual exams at Mogadishu University, which is situated near the former green line that divided the capital.

 

This has been a serious burden on me and my family and I'll have to think about how I can reward them

Student

Their graduation will be the first since the collapse of the regime of President Siad Barre in early 1991.

When I visited the university the exam room was very much like any other, with students sweating in silence and professors wandering among them.

But sitting such high-level exams is a rarity in Somalia and these 152 students taking degrees in history, languages and law are the lucky few.

The faction fighting in Mogadishu threatened the safety of the university

More than 80% of the students are boys, while the small number of girls attending classes wear strict Islamic dress.

The professors seemed pleased about the progress of the exams and said that it proved that they could create graduates in the middle of anarchy.

This university has been operating for four years, but as it is fee-paying, it has not attracted as many students as officials would have liked.

Most students are charged $300 per year.

Outside help

The president of the university, Ali Sheikh Ahmed Abukar, said this was just a nominal fee and the students got some financial support from universities in Canada and America.

Sitting such high level exams is a rarity in Somalia

Student Yusuf Mohamed Abdi told me he was not quite sure what he planned to do after getting his degree.

"This has been a serious burden on me and my family and I'll have to think about how I can reward them," he said.

The students are well aware of how risky it was attending the university in the early years.

Violence

Abdi told me he was terrified when the former premises came under attack. The whole building was looted and taken over by armed clan fighters, and all the students had to leave for a new campus.

But they still did not fully escape the violence.

History student Faduma Abukar Mohammed said that just after the move fighting broke out between different clans at a junction just 40 metres away.

Faduma Mohamed, who already has a job as a teacher, said she was going to continue teaching even after getting married.

"I have women colleagues with children who still teach, so I could be just like them," she said.