The University for Development Studies (UDS) is Ghana’s first public University in the North. It was established by the Government of Ghana by PNDC Law 279 and gazette on 15th May, 1992 with aims:

- to provide higher education to all persons suitably qualified and capable of benefiting from such education;
- to undertake research and promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and its application to the needs and aspirations of the people of Ghana; and
- to blend the academic world with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of northern Ghana in particular and the country as a whole.