The story of AUW began well before its inaugural class entered in 2008. The idea for the university grew out of the World Bank/UN Task Force on Higher Education and Society. In 2000, the Task Force, which included
Kamal Ahmad, Harvard University's Dean
Henry Rosovsky and the World Bank's former managing director
Mamphela Ramphele, published its findings in a report titled "Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise", which concluded that developing countries must improve the quality of their institutions of higher learning, in governance and pedagogy, to compete in today's increasingly globalised, knowledge-based economy.
2001–2004 In January 2004, the
government of Bangladesh, whose foreign minister Dipu Moni was a trustee of the university, granted a large plot of land for the construction of AUW's permanent campus in the near Chittagong. AUWSF board of directors published a Plan of Operations in May 2005, laying out the basic plans for AUW's curriculum, target student population, and sustainability efforts.
2005–2007 Grants from the
Goldman Sachs Foundation and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2005 and 2006 provided the start-up funds that enabled AUW to become operational in 2008. Additional funding was provided by the
Rockefeller Foundation, the
U.S. State Department, and the
IKEA Foundation, which promised sponsorship for 100 students for five years.
2013–2016 In May 2013, the university graduated its first class of 132 students. The 2012–13 academic year saw AUW's first full complement of classes - a total student body of 535, with cohorts in Access Academy and all four undergraduate years. They represent 15 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Vietnam. In January 2016, AUW launched Pathways for Promise to provide university education to female garment-factory workers and other women from vulnerable groups. Nearly 800 women responded and sat for the first round of admissions tests. Over 50 women qualified. In January 2016 they entered AUW's Pathways to Promise program - the pilot phase of which was supported by
IKEA Foundation and
George Soros's
Open Society Foundations. When the 2016 autumn semester began, new Pathways students came to campus and the program grew by 50%. As of May 2016, AUW had graduated over 440 alumnae, all of whom plan to go on to graduate studies or begin careers in the public sector, research, non-governmental organizations, and private enterprise.
2017 Professor
Nirmala Rao joins AUW as vice-chancellor. Rao is a distinguished political scientist who most recently served for eight years as Pro Director of at the
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. In May 2017, AUW graduated its fifth class of students, bringing the total alumnae count to more than 525.
2019 As of 2019, AUW has graduated more than 800 students. The current student body is represented by almost 900 students from 19 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Syria, Timore Leste, Vietnam, and Yemen. In 2019 AUW created a Community Learning Center where AUW students could volunteer to teach basic lessons to local children in Maths, Science and English.
2021 In 2021, AUW began recruiting students from Afghanistan. Between 2021 and 2024, five hundred Afghan women enrolled with AUW.
2022 Rubana Huq became the
vice-chancellor of AUW.
2024 In 2024, the university had 1,345 students from seventeen countries. In 2024, work started on the new campus building == Funding ==