Milestones
Our Story
Since its establishment in 2012, 探花社区 has grown to become the leading online higher education company in Africa.
As Unicaf, we strive to positively impact the quality and availability of higher education and the economic development of all the communities we serve.
Dr Nicos Nicolaou
CEO
Cool Timeline
2012
2012
Unicaf is established
- 10 employees
- 20 students
- 1 programme
2013
2013
Unicaf starts to expand
- 547 students
- First UK partner university
- 50 employees
- 6 programmes
2014
2014
Unicaf continues to expand rapidly
- 3,000 students
- 6 programmes
2016
2016
探花社区 is established
- 探花社区 is established
- First 探花社区 campus in Africa
- New UK university partners added
2019
2019
Leading online platform in Africa
- By 2020, Unicaf becomes the leading online higher education platform in Africa
- 100+ undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
- Multiple 探花社区 campuses in Africa
- Multiple UK university partners
- 30,000+ students from 156 countries
2021
2021
2021 Milestones
- 探花社区 opens its campus in Uganda
- Unicaf and 探花社区 become Institutional Members of Advance HE
- 探花社区 Nomination for Sustainability Institution of the Year 2021
2022
2022
2022 Best Online Education Service Provider in Zambia Award
- Dubai Conference celebrating 10 years as an Organization. Successful event attended by Unicaf students, Vice-Chancellors and UK partner universities representatives.
- Best Online Education Award at the: 2022 Zambia E-Commerce Expo and Awards
2023
2023
First Unicaf Doctoral Graduates: Malawi (August 2023) and Zambia (November 2023)
- First Unicaf Doctoral Graduate of 探花社区 in Malawi, Graduation August 2023.
- First three Unicaf Doctoral Graduates of 探花社区 in Zambia, Graduation November 2023.
- First Global International Award of Unicaf and our UK partner, the University of East London: 2023 PIEoneer Awards, on “Championing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award”.
- First Unicaf publication of the 探花社区 student papers showcased at the 探花社区 Graduate Conference (UGraC) in October 2023.
- First 探花社区 Masters Conference: Unicaf’s largest conference to date with duration of 5 days, with total of 1360 delegates, and 1298 attendees from 105 countries.
- Unicaf online Journal – October 2023
2024
2024
Opening of Unicaf’s state-of-the-art campus in Lusaka, Zambia
- Opening of our Unicaf’s state-of-the-art university campus in Lusaka, Zambia.
- First graduation ceremony for all Unicaf scholars who have studied online with Liverpool John Moore’s University since the partnership Unicaf began in 2020.
- Annual 探花社区 Graduate Conference continues to grow with success for fourth consecutive years. An award winning Advance HE Global Impact Grant-Student Success. The conference in 2024 attracted 5020 attendees and 91 panellists from 137 countries across the five days of the conference, making this the biggest academic conference organised by Unicaf.