University of Tamanghasset

UNIV-TAM was created in 2004 as an annex of the University of Algiers, with the aim of bringing higher education to the main city of Toureg Algeria. It is situated on a 1,320m oasis in the Ahaggar Mountains, 1,200 miles from Algiers via the Trans-Sahara highway.

Within a year, UNIV-TAM had attained the rank of university centre, accommodating institutes of human sciences and law. Since moving to its current campus in 2006, it has steadily added fresh disciplines, such as earth sciences, management and commercial sciences, and French language. The first master’s courses were introduced in 2012, and a range of specialities, including irrigation, microbiology and prehistoric archaeology, followed in 2013.

Attaining university status in 2020, UNIV-TAM now enrols more than 7,000 students and envisages further expansion. Plans for expansion include a new 97-hectare campus and a 1,000-bed student residence – both mentioned when the Minister of Higher Education and Science visited in May 2023 to open the university’s House of Artificial Intelligence.

UNIV-TAM is divided into five colleges: humanities and social science, literature and languages, law and political science, commercial economic and management sciences, and science and technology. Literature and languages has Arabic and foreign-language sections – the British Council has provided assistance with English teaching since 2021.

Law is among the largest disciplines, with 1,904 students enrolled in 2023, including 486 on master’s courses. Social-science entrants had the highest Baccalaureate scores, with an average of 10.81 in 2021, compared with 10.57 for law and 10.33 for English.