(Video) Inauguration of the “baobab campus”: An architectural and academic giant of the ISM Group for a new era in private higher education June 2, 2026
It is a new architectural and academic jewel which strengthens the landscape of Senegalese private higher education. Located on Cheikh Anta Diop Avenue, the “Baobab Campus” of the ISM Group (Higher Institute of Management) was officially inaugurated on Wednesday May 20, 2026, during a ceremony marked by a strong mobilization of personalities from various backgrounds.
Alongside the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Professor Daouda Ngom, several political and institutional figures responded to the invitation of the Group’s founding President, Amadou Diaw. Among them were former Heads of Government, Aminata Touré, Amadou Bâ and Abdoul Mbaye as well as the current Secretary General of the Government, Boubacar Camara.
The founding President of the ISM Group, Amadou Diaw, was unanimously presented on the occasion as one of the pioneers of private higher education in Senegal.
Created in 1992, the ISM Group has gradually established itself as a reference in the Senegalese and West African university landscape thanks to a strategy focused on the professionalization of training, international openness and adaptation to the needs of the job market.
The new campus now brings together all of the ISM Group’s institutes and can accommodate up to 3,000 students simultaneously, with a total capacity estimated at 10,000 people per day. Equipped with all the amenities necessary for quality education, the new campus is designed to welcome students in an environment that promotes learning, creativity, collaboration and innovation.
A major player in private higher education
Presiding over the ceremony, the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Professor Daouda Ngom, praised the journey of a pioneering and visionary institution which, he said, “has contributed for more than three decades to the structuring and influence of private higher education”.
According to him, the ISM Group “is distinguished as a major player in the emergence and consolidation of private higher education in Senegal and in the West African region”.
He insisted on the role played by Amadou Diaw in the construction of the private higher education sub-sector. He recalled his involvement in the Framework Agreement of May 2, 1995 between the State of Senegal and stakeholders in the private higher education sector.
“Amadou Diaw is a visionary, a pioneer in the development of private higher education in Senegal,” said Professor Ngom.
He also recalled the weight now occupied by private establishments in the Senegalese university system.
“Private higher education is today an essential pillar of the national education system,” he said, specifying that nearly 31% of Senegalese students continue their studies in the private sector.
According to him, this dynamic contributes to strengthening Senegal’s position as a “major center of academic excellence in West Africa”.
For the minister, the “Baobab Campus” goes well beyond a simple real estate investment.
“The project embodies a strong ambition: to build a modern, inclusive knowledge space resolutely focused on the challenges of the 21st century,” he declared.
According to Professor Daouda Ngom, this infrastructure fits perfectly with Senegal’s strategic orientations in terms of higher education, particularly with regard to the quality of training, the improvement of governance and the adequacy between the training offer and the needs of the job market.
He believes that institutions like the ISM Group play “a determining role in the formation of competitive and quality human capital”, in accordance with Vision Senegal 2050.
The foundations of an institution open to the world
Speaking, the General Director of the ISM Group, Abdou Diouf, explained that the inauguration of this new campus “goes beyond that of a simple building”.
“This campus is an ambition, a promise made to a generation,” he said.
For him, this new space symbolizes the group’s desire to build “a modern African university, open to the world but deeply rooted in its identity”.
The choice of the name “Baobab” also reflects this philosophy.
“The baobab embodies strength, transmission and wisdom. Under the baobab, we learn, we listen and we build,” explained Mr. Diouf.
According to him, the campus was designed as “a space dedicated to excellence, innovation and impact”.
He also returned to the genesis of the project.
Born from a partnership established in 2017 between the ISM Group and Galileo Global Education, the world leader in private higher education, the project was carried out in nearly 30 months by Senegalese companies.
The ISM Group also has continental ambitions. After having consolidated its presence in several regions of Senegal, the establishment continues its expansion in the sub-region.
“We have opened a school in Abidjan and we will continue to expand in other African capitals,” said Abdou Diouf.
This strategy, he says, “responds to strong regional demand since nearly 45% of the group’s workforce comes from other African countries”.
