Arba Minch University was founded as the Arba Minch Water Technology Institute, and granted university status in 2004. As one of Ethiopia's National Research Universities, the university offers daytime, evening, weekend and distance programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
The university’s main campus is located 5 km north of the Arba Minch town, and there are four secondary campuses. The Abaya Campus lies in Secha Kifle Ketema, the Chamo Campus which houses the colleges of business and economics, and social sciences and humanities is located at the southern end of the town, overseeing Lake Chamo. The Nech Sar Campus is near to the Arba Minch Hospital and houses the college of medicine and health science, and the Kulfo Campus lies near the Kulfo River.
There are five academic colleges at AMU, including: agriculture, business and economics, medicine and health sciences, natural and computational sciences, and social sciences and humanities. Also offering a range of academic programmes is the university’s four schools of law, graduate studies, pedagogical and behavioural sciences, and medicine.
AMU places an emphasis on sports for students, and encourages the local community to make use of their sports facilities too.
