About Osiri University

Rooted in Legacy, Rising with Purpose

The world's first university founded on the Ubuntu philosophy. Our graduates change the world — one community at a time.

Osiri emerges from crimson clay in a sea of sameness — fearless, distinct, and resilient. A private university built on Ubuntu: I am because we are.

Our Story

Built to Bridge the World

Osiri University is a global institution empowering the next generation of leaders through innovation, research, and inclusive education. Founded with a mission to bridge knowledge gaps across continents, Osiri connects scholars from the U.S., Africa, and beyond.

With a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship, technology, and community impact, the university cultivates thinkers, doers, and change-makers. Through dynamic programs and international collaborations, Osiri University is shaping a bold, borderless future where education drives transformation and opportunity reaches every corner of the world.

Founding

Osiri University was founded in 2020 by John Kalu Osiri, a global educator and the university’s chancellor. Osiri University is based in the USA, where it is registered inNebraska, with an administrative office in Lincoln.

Osiri University became the world's first university built on the Ubuntu philosophy to be authorized to operate, when Nebraska's Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education (CCPE) granted its authorization.

A fusion of worlds

Osiri University was built around a simple but ambitious idea: that a university curriculum could bring together the African philosophy of Ubuntu — a united spirit in creating a better world — with a global educational framework, so that learners never have to choose between honoring where they come from and reaching where they're going.

That fusion shapes everything at Osiri, from the classroom to the community. Students take their courses online from anywhere in the world, learning at their own pace while staying rooted in a shared culture of cooperation. Osiri asks its learners to bring their own history and culture into the room — and to use it to solve real problems in their own communities, not abstract ones borrowed from elsewhere.

The result is a school that feels less like an institution and more like a gathering: one university, five schools, and a growing circle of learners who see their education as something built together, rather than delivered to them.

What We Believe

Philosophy & mission,
rooted in Ubuntu

Osiri University believes that real-world experience is a form of education. Through our Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) program, professional experience can translate into academic credit.

Our Mission

Global education, local feel

Osiri University's mission is to deliver quality global education, with a local feel, at a scale sufficient to create a better world within the context of Ubuntu. We coach learners to their strengths as they concentrate on developing their core values and mastering the knowledge they need to make a difference.

We challenge every learner to use their own history and culture as a tool — to solve real problems in the communities they call home, rather than leaving that culture at the door.

Our Philosophy

Ubuntu

At Osiri University, we believe we have a shared responsibility to create the life we desire while making our society more harmonious by leveraging our talents and working together. Learners discover their potential, connect with a supportive community of active learners, and jointly begin a journey in pursuit of their calling.

Although learning at Osiri is grounded in community, cooperation, and co-prosperity — the values captured in the spirit of Ubuntu — we still encourage healthy competition among students, so that togetherness and ambition grow side by side.

The Osiri Advantage

Why learners choose Osiri

Four commitments, spelled out in the university's own name for its student experience — PLUS.

P

Personal growth

Learners are coached toward their own strengths, values, and calling — not a generic template of success.

L

Learn at your own pace

Courses are taken 100% online, letting students study and pay as they learn, wherever they are.

U

Ubuntu

Community, cooperation, and co-prosperity sit at the center of every program and every classroom.

s

Solving community problems

Students apply their history, culture, and training to real challenges in their own communities.

Leadership

Council of Elders

Osiri is guided by a Council of Elders (Vakhulu) — distinguished voices who serve as the university's Board of Governors, chosen not only for their expertise but for their integrity, impact, and commitment to servant leadership.

Colin Ramsay

Chairperson of the Council of Elders
Born and raised in Guyana, Professor Colin M. Ramsay earned his PhD from the University of Waterloo and his BSc from City University, London. He teaches life contingencies, pensions, and actuarial risk theory, and researches the economics of insurance, including micro-insurance and crop insurance applications to food security in the developing world.

Amarachi Amaugo

Vice Chancellor / President & Ezenwanyi
A Senior Lecturer in HRM/OB and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, with a PhD focused on international HRM in developing countries. Her research also covers workplace bullying, and she previously lectured at the Universities of South Wales and Bedfordshire Business School.

Mallence Bart-Williams

Founder & Creative Director, FOLORUNSHO
A Sierra Leonean-German social entrepreneur working across publishing, film, fashion, and philanthropy. She founded FOLORUNSHO, a Freetown-based creative collective that has moved homeless children off the streets and into school through creativity alone. Her TED x Berlin talk, "Change Your Channel," has been shared tens of millions of times and is now taught in universities across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

P. L. O. Lumumba

Legal Scholar & Anti-Corruption Advocate
A distinguished legal scholar and one of Africa's most respected voices on leadership, governance, and development. He previously directed the Kenya School of Law and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, and holds a PhD in Law from Ghent University. He is widely known for his powerful public lectures on governance, justice, and the future of emerging economies.

Chigozie Obioma

Author & Professor
The Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor at the University of Georgia and assistant professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His debut novel, The Fishermen, won the FT/Oppenheimer Award for Fiction, and his second, An Orchestra of Minorities, made him the only writer in Booker Prize history shortlisted for every book he's published.

José V. Pimienta-Bey

Professor of African & African American Studies
A tenured Associate Professor of African & African American Studies and General Studies at Berea College, Kentucky, where he has taught for 15 years. His research spans Moorish History, African psychology, comparative religious studies, and African American social and political thought. He authored Othello's Children in the "New World" (2002).

Mammo Muchie

Professor of Innovation Studies, Tshwane University of Technology
A Fellow of the South African Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences, and Senior Research Associate at Oxford University. Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal on Science, Technology, Innovation, and Development, he has produced over 400 publications and mentored hundreds of doctoral candidates worldwide.

Nwabueze Nwokolo née Jaja Wachuku

Barrister, Solicitor & Commonwealth Lawyer
Qualified as a barrister and solicitor in Nigeria (1978) and in England and Wales (1995). A mediator and conflict-resolution advocate, she served as a Council member of the Law Society of England and Wales for sixteen years and chaired the National Black Solicitors Network.

Lisa Sylvester Acogny

Chairperson, reFocus Africa
A multi-ethnic American, French, and Senegalese mother of five who has lived across five continents. She chairs reFocus Africa, mentoring young Africans as changemakers, and co-founded Knowledge-First International Academy, guided by the belief that "knowledge is power."
FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION

Faculty & academic leadership

The administrators and instructors who run Osiri's schools day to day, alongside a growing global faculty of practitioners and scholars.

John Kalu Osiri, PhD

Chancellor

Amarachi Amaugo, PhD

Vice Chancellor

Paul Easterling, PhD

Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty, Dean of the School of Humanities

Kathie Sweet, M.Ed

Associate Vice Chancellor for Academics & Director of Montessori Education

Victor Okhai, PhD

Dean, Osiri Business School

Mammo Muchie, PhD

Director of PhD Program

Noble Anumbe, PhD

Dean, School of Computing and Engineering

Helen Onyeaka, PhD

Dean, School of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources

Ukachi Wachuku, PhD

Dean, Undergraduate Studies

Nina Orji, PhD

Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs & Registrar

Abdulkabeer Adegbindin, ACA, M.Sc.

Accountant & Operations Officer

Emile John Osiri, M.Sc.

Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives & Community Development
Global Guidance

International Advisory Board

A board of educators, executives, and technologists spanning the UK, Senegal, India, and Ethiopia, who help shape Osiri's programs and connect learners to the wider world.

Prof. Stephen Little

Professor of Business Strategy at Osiri and Professor Extraordinaire at SARChI, Tshwane University of Technology. He led the Open University Business School's Centre for Innovation, Knowledge, and Enterprise, and chaired the Asia Pacific Technology Network from 2008–2016.

Dr. Abdoulaye Mbengue

Dean of Business at Osiri University and Executive Director of Xelkom Institute. A former principal trade adviser to USAID in Senegal, he later contributed to the African Union's first strategic plan and the NEPAD needs assessment.

Dr. Harish Nair

An education management consultant and President of Chancellor Education, with a PhD in Teaching English as a Second Language. He is also CEO of Avatar Health Care Ltd and CommonHealth Awards CIC in London.

Dr. Atnafu Dargaso

A Senior Google Cloud Data Engineer with 14+ years in technology, including roles at Walt Disney and Getty Images. He holds a Doctorate in Computer Science and multiple Google Cloud professional certifications.
Authorization

Authorization & Governance

Authorization and Accreditation

Osiri University is authorized to operate by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education (CCPE). The University has submitted eligibility filings to the Higher Learning Commission as part of its Eligibility Process for accreditation.

If eligibility is granted, the University would enter a period of candidacy, which may last up to four years, during which the institution undergoes evaluation toward
accreditation. Participation in the Eligibility Process or candidacy status does not indicate or guarantee that accreditation will be achieved.
For more information about the accreditation process and requirements, please visit the Higher Learning Commission website.

Governance Structure

Osiri University is governed by a Board of Trustees through the Osiri University Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the mission of zero-tuition global education.

Academic programs are overseen by faculty and school directors. Student affairs, finances, and compliance are managed by university administration in accordance with the Foundation's bylaws.