Katyavala Bwila University, according to its Organic Statute, is a public legal entity with the status of a public institution, enjoying scientific, pedagogical, administrative, financial, disciplinary, and property autonomy, dedicated to teaching, scientific research, and community service in accordance with the legislation in force within the higher education subsystem. The Organic Statute of UKB was approved by Presidential Decree No. 241/11, dated September 6.

History

The emergence of UKB is the culmination of the development process of higher education in the central coastal region, particularly in the provinces of Benguela and Kwanza-Sul. It was in Benguela that the first higher education center was created.

The legal framework that allowed the creation of a higher education commission in Benguela was Presidential Decree No. 10/89, dated September 15.

The Installation Commission of the University Center of Benguela (CICUB) was accredited four years later to handle matters related to the creation of the University Center (CUB), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the UAN Rectorate, and the faculties' directorates, as a result of a commitment made by President José Eduardo dos Santos in August 1992, in the city of Lobito.

The CICUB's activities led to the establishment of a unit of the Higher Institute of Educational Sciences (ISCED) in a face-to-face regime starting in 1993, aimed at training teachers for the first and second cycles of general education. Thus, ISCED emerged as the first higher education institution in Benguela on March 30, 1993, by decree from the Rector of UAN, José Luís Guerra Marques, and was later renamed CUB, University Center of Benguela.

At the time of its inception in March 1993, ISCED had an enrollment of 202 students in the fields of Psychology, Pedagogy, Mathematics, Geography, and History, and the faculty consisted of 19 teachers.

In the following academic year, a Law faculty was established in a distance learning mode. However, the capacity for admission was still far from meeting the demand for higher education applicants from not only Benguela and surrounding areas but also Kwanza-Sul, which at the time had no higher education institution.

The first attempts to create a higher education institution in the Kwanza-Sul Province date back to the 1980s, when students from Sumbe attended the ISCED in Luanda. In 1986, these students formed the first nucleus, which failed two years later due to structural challenges related to transportation, infrastructure, and the instability that plagued the country.

In 1997, General Francisco Higino Lopes Carneiro was appointed as Governor of Kwanza-Sul. Concerned with the situation, he created conditions for the emergence of higher education in the region, the ISCED of Sumbe. In March 2000, aptitude exams were conducted for courses in Psychology and Pedagogy, with 101 candidates selected—51 for Psychology and 50 for Pedagogy.

After several efforts with the institutions mentioned above, the first academic year officially began on May 21, 2001, with the inaugural lecture delivered by Professor Doctor Augusto Eduardo Kâmbwa, then Director of ISCED Luanda, with only five local teachers, mostly itinerant from ISCED Luanda.

Higher education in the central-southern coastal region of Angola gained new momentum with the Project for the Development of Higher Education in Benguela (PRODESB), resulting from a General Cooperation Agreement between the Government of Benguela (GOB) and the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL), ratified by the Rector of Agostinho Neto University (UAN) on July 5, 2001. With the signing of this agreement, the development of higher education in Benguela was discussed with greater focus. New strategic guidelines were adopted to better systematize the intervention areas and actions of PRODESB. As a result of this cross-effort, new courses were introduced, including Law, Informatics, Economics, and Special Education, with new infrastructure made available. The PRODESB implementation plan was expected to span a 10-year period, from 2002 to 2011.

In 2002, ISCED Benguela began faculty mobility, with the introduction of courses in History and Mathematics. Subsequently, in 2003, the Geology course was introduced, followed in 2005 by postgraduate courses in Psychology and Pedagogy and the regular Accounting and Management course, initially under the methodological guidance of the Faculty of Economics but later becoming part of the Higher School of Science and Technology of Uíge until 2009, from which most of the teachers came. That same year, the postgraduate History course was introduced.

The Kwanza-Sul University Pole (ISCED Sumbe) was annexed to the University Center of Benguela in 2002.

Organizational Units:

- Faculty of Law  

- Faculty of Economics  

- Faculty of Medicine  

- Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of Benguela  

- Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of Sumbe  

- Higher Polytechnic Institute