Eighteen years after its inception in 1960, Youth With A Mission (YWAM) founded the Pacific & Asia Christian University (PACU), launching the first campus in 1978 in Kona, Hawaii. PACU was founded on the basis that students could be educated in skills to help them bring the Gospel into the foundational areas of society worldwide. A development guide was created to develop seven Colleges/Faculties and several multi-disciplinary Centres that would educate and train students in those areas. A master plan for the campus was prepared by a team of planners and architects who carefully considered the best environment for implementing the founding principles. University schools were developed rapidly in many nations and on six continents. Many of these schools were linked with PACU. However, the regional and local names no longer reflected the worldwide scope and unity of YWAM’s higher education. Therefore, the Board of Regents unanimously adopted the new name, University of the Nations (UofN), at their meeting in 1988. The name change took place officially on June 2, 1989.
The UofN is unique in its international missionary training scope with school locations in over 100 nations on all continents. Because the various nations’ accrediting agencies have major differences in their systems, the U of N has not, at present, applied for any one nation’s accreditation. The schools in U of N Colleges/Faculties adhere to quality standards and are all committed to excellence. The content of all U of N academic programmes is designed to be very close to the needs of a Christian in his or her chosen workplace, and courses require serious commitment and diligence. The courses are taught by expert staff who are widely recognised in their fields of study.