Set to commence in September 2009, the Asian University for Women (AUW) is being established as a leading institution of higher education for underprivileged women across South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East.  The civic and academic goal of the AUW is to better prepare disadvantaged women of high ability and potential for the greater social needs of their regional community through a world-class education.  It is the AUW's mission to provide such an education that will encompass both the progressive liberal arts and the requisite professional training in order to further the intellectual and professional development of eligible young women.

Located in Chittagong, Bangladesh, the AUW will be the first university of its kind because it is dedicated solely to the education of rural, economically disadvantaged, and/or refugee women whose social and intellectual potentials are limited by extraneous circumstances.  While international in its vision and scope, the University will remain rooted in a context unique to the diverse cultural, religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds of the Middle and South East.  The AUW will offer an educational paradigm that combines a competitive liberal arts education with socially applicable graduate and professional training.

The University ultimately seeks to empower its students and to open doors.  It seeks to graduate students who will pursue paths as skilled and innovative individuals and professionals, service-oriented leaders, and promoters of tolerance and understanding throughout the world. With a student body of approximately 3,000 women at full capacity and a target student/faculty ratio of 13:1, the AUW is designed to be a relatively small but diverse institution that will ensure the full education of each and every student.