The Institution was founded by Dr David Richard Namwandi, first as a non-degree awarding body. On 26 October 2002 it obtained University status when it was officially launched by the then state president of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Dr. Sam Nujoma. The university is fully accredited by the Namibia Qualifications Authority and the National Council for Higher Education(NCHE). The International University of Management (IUM) has its roots in the Institute of Higher Education which was founded in 1994 and is a sole Namibian initiative which started with one student and has now grown into an institution whose student population is currently more that 9,000. The intellectual and vocational bases of the university are firmly rooted in Management and ICT.Since its inception, the university has gained recognition as a centre of excellence for the teaching of Management Science and ICT disciplines at all levels. While these disciplines remain the university’s anchor, plans are afoot to diversify its offerings at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the not too distant future in order to address different economic needs of management in Namibia. In addition, the university has carried out numerous consultancies on behalf of both the private and public sectors in Namibia.
IUM was officially launched as the first private university in Namibia on 26 April 2002 and its Hi-Tech campus at Dorado Park in Windhoek was inaugurated on 26 April 2011. The purpose of the university is to educate and train young managers of the future; the young managers who will go out into the world and help to generate work and wealth in those sectors of society where there is most need, demand or opportunity.