In 2000, His Highness the Aga Khan initiated the establishment of the Aga Khan Academies, an integrated network of schools dedicated to expanding access to the highest standard of education.

The Aga Khan Academies is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), which is chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan. The AKDN has a long history of involvement in education in countries of the developing world, with the first schools now under the AKDN umbrella having been founded in 1905 in India and Zanzibar. Currently, AKDN agencies operate more than 240 schools and educational programmes ranging from early childhood through to post-graduate education.

Establishment of the academies

In 2003, the first of Aga Khan Academy opened in Kenya on an 18-acre site in the Kizingo area of Mombasa. The Aga Khan Academy (AKA) Mombasa has already established a highly successful track record, with its students placing among the top tier worldwide in academic performance.

The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad is the second to be established and opened with its first intake of students in August 2011. As with all the Aga Khan Academies, AKA Hyderabad selects students of all socio-economic backgrounds who show promise in academic and other areas, and who demonstrate good character and serious intent.

A third Aga Khan Academy, in Maputo, Mozambique, opened in August 2013 with its lower primary school. In 2022, the Aga Khan Academy Dhaka in Bangladesh opened. 

Future academies

The other Academies are at different stages in the planning and development process.

View a map of the planned network of Academies.

The Aga Khan Academy Dhaka is the fourth in a network of Aga Khan Academies being established in countries across Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. The first Academy opened in Mombasa, Kenya in 2003, the second in Hyderabad, India in 2011 and the third in Maputo, Mozambique in 2013.

The aim of the Academies is to develop future leaders with the skills and knowledge to support positive development in their societies. We achieve this by recruiting exceptional young people from all backgrounds and providing them with the highest international standard of education.

Admission is competitive and based on student merit, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Each Academy endeavours to meet the demonstrated financial need of each admitted student.

When complete, the network of Academies will form a global learning community of approximately 18 schools in 14 countries (map). They will eventually serve approximately 14,000 girls and boys of exceptional calibre, graduating 1,500 students annually.

For more information, visit our Academies network home page.