For much of the twentieth century Sudan was one of Africa's notable destinations for international students, drawing young people from across the continent and the wider Muslim world to study in Khartoum and Omdurman. Its position at the meeting of the Arab and African worlds, its respected universities, and its deep traditions in Arabic and Islamic learning made it a natural place of study for students seeking advanced education in those fields, as well as in medicine and the sciences.
The links between Sudan and Nigeria are an especially long-standing example. Educational ties between Sudan and northern Nigeria date at least to the colonial period: in the 1930s Sudanese instructors were brought to teach at Kano's Shahuci Judicial School and the Northern Provinces Law School, and over the following decades a steady stream of Nigerian students travelled the other way to continue their studies in Sudan. Many graduates of Arabic and Islamic schools in northern Nigeria pursued higher education in Sudanese institutions and returned home as teachers, university lecturers, administrators, physicians and judges of the civil and Shari'a courts. Scholars have described a distinctive intellectual current linking northern Nigerian thinkers to Sudan, and the relationship remains a reference point in the shared educational history of the two countries. Comparable ties connected Sudan to Chad, Cameroon, Niger, the Horn of Africa and beyond.
This role was given lasting institutional form in the International University of Africa in Khartoum. It began in 1977 as the African Islamic Centre, established to educate young Muslims from across Africa, and was upgraded to a full university in 1991. Its mission has centred on serving students from sub-Saharan Africa and the broader Muslim world, and over the years it has enrolled students from more than ninety countries across faculties spanning Islamic studies, education, humanities, pure and applied sciences, engineering and medicine. Set on a large campus in southern Khartoum, and extending its work through affiliated institutions such as a college in Zanzibar, the university built a reputation as a hub of cultural exchange, where students from many nations studied side by side — often supported by scholarships that made study accessible to those from modest backgrounds.
Other institutions reinforced Sudan's appeal to international students. Omdurman Islamic University and later foundations specialising in the Qur'an and Islamic sciences drew students of religion and Arabic; the University of Khartoum, the University of Gezira and others attracted those seeking medicine, agriculture and engineering. For many families across West and Central Africa, sending a son or daughter to study in Sudan carried both practical and cultural appeal: a respected qualification, immersion in the Arabic language, and a familiar Islamic environment.
It is important to be candid about the present. Since April 2023 the conflict in Sudan has severely disrupted universities and the enrolment of new international students, and prospective students should rely on official, current guidance regarding admissions and travel. The account above describes an established legacy and an institutional mission built over decades rather than present-day operational conditions. That legacy — of Sudan as a welcoming place of study for students from Nigeria and across Africa and the Muslim world — remains an important part of the country's identity and a foundation on which its higher-education ties can be rebuilt.