Universities and schools
Before the war the University of Lafoole was known for its journalism faculty. 1991 Somalia has had no journalism schools between 1991 and 2013, when the University of Mogadishu began a faculty of journalism, which provided media training to journalists. The Somali government said in 2016 that it would require all journalists to enrol at this university to complete a one-year journalism degree. In exchange for greater freedom of speech, journalists must complete a journalism degree if they want to work as journalists in the country.
Furthermore, because of the decades of conflict the educational system was destroyed, with 75 percent of all schools either destroyed or closed. A generation of Somali journalists lost the opportunity for formal education. Today there are very few practicing journalists with formal education. Most journalists who had an education have already left the country and there has been no opportunity to educate younger journalists. This matters a great deal in Somalia, because the median age for men is 18.1 years and 17.9 years for women, and the majority of the population is under the age of 25.
In 2017 the Somali National University reopened its faculty of journalism and communication. The Prime Minister re-opened the faculty 26 years after it closed. In 2018, the University of Hargeisa opened a faculty of journalism in Somaliland.