University Magazine Issue 1
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AT A GLANCE<br />
Preparing<br />
Global Leaders<br />
15 Years of Excellence<br />
VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY<br />
15th Anniversary<br />
ESTABLISHED 1998<br />
Global leaders possess an exceptional set of characteristics which make them stand out and enable them to succeed.<br />
Three key factors help educate young people and empower them to become future global leaders. First, it takes a special<br />
vision and a visionary who can guide those young people and all those impacting them. Second, it takes a unique<br />
environment that challenges students and feels safe at the same time. Finally, it takes a culture of success, in which<br />
leadership skills are nurtured in a practical way. VIU has been preparing students to be global leaders from its very<br />
founding 15 years ago. Here is the story of our accomplishments at a glance.<br />
THE VISIONARY<br />
VIU founder Dr. Isa Sarac, has been involved in the<br />
higher education field for most of his life. Holding<br />
multiple graduate-level degrees, Dr. Sarac has<br />
been a professor, a researcher, an education publisher<br />
and a university founder. Having already<br />
started a successful university in London, he wanted<br />
to replicate and improve on that experience in<br />
the United States. When Dr. Isa Sarac founded Virginia<br />
International <strong>University</strong> (VIU) in 1998, he did<br />
so with a set of core values that still serve as the<br />
foundation of VIU today. Those values of openness,<br />
diversity, innovation and peace-building<br />
come out of Dr. Sarac’s conviction that education<br />
is the main tool to build peace throughout the<br />
world. By founding an institution of higher education<br />
wherein students can come from diverse national,<br />
cultural, and social backgrounds and study<br />
alongside each other in the classroom, Dr. Sarac<br />
has truly made this vision a reality. Today, VIU is<br />
a place where there is real freedom to exchange<br />
ideas and grow together.<br />
THE GROWTH<br />
Since 1998, when VIU officially opened its doors<br />
and began achieving the goal of providing the<br />
highest quality of education, it has shown consistent<br />
growth. An institution that began with a<br />
handful of students in the Fall 1999 semester had<br />
25 times more students by Fall 2005! In 2010,<br />
VIU’s students more than doubled again, representing<br />
more than 50 countries across the globe.<br />
In this same year, VIU opened the School of Online<br />
Education. Students can now enroll in, study,<br />
and earn a degree or certificate from all over the<br />
world, both here on our campus in the Washington,<br />
DC metropolitan area, and through our online<br />
classrooms. Many new in-demand programs<br />
have been launched along the way as numbers of<br />
students, faculty and staff increased.<br />
UNIVERSITY<br />
TIMELINE<br />
8 <strong>University</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, VIU Spring 2014<br />
VIU was granted authority<br />
to start an MBA<br />
Program by SCHEV.<br />
1998<br />
VIU was incorporated<br />
as a 501(c)3 non-profit<br />
organization and received<br />
authorization to<br />
offer programs in business<br />
and computer science<br />
by SCHEV<br />
1999<br />
VIU opened BBA and<br />
BCS undergraduate degree<br />
programs.<br />
VIU was authorized by<br />
SCHEV to offer an MS in<br />
Information System.<br />
2000 2003
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