The IUGB was founded in 2012 and since then has been dedicated to empowering students and helping to develop the necessary resources to make the International University of Grand-Bassam in Cote d'Ivoire (IUGB) a center of excellence for higher education in West Africa. IUGB admitted its first students in 2005 and was created as the result of a two-plus-two exchange student program with Georgia State University. The IUGB Foundation's Goals and Objectives: raise money for need-based scholarships; develop career, study-abroad and internship programs for students in Georgia and elsewhere in the United States; procures technology for faculty, administration & Students in Georgia and the U.S.; develops strategic partnerships with Georgia and other U.S.-based corporations and universities and procures research opportunities for faculty in Georgia and elswhere in the continental United States.