[8] In 2000, the Task Force, which included Kamal Ahmad, Harvard University's Dean Henry Rosovsky and the World Bank's former managing director Mamphela Ramphele, published its findings in a report titled "Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise", which concluded that developing countries must improve the quality of their institutions of higher learning, in governance and pedagogy, to compete in today's increasingly globalised, knowledge-based economy.

In January 2004, the government of Bangladesh, who's foreign minister Dipu Moni was a trustee of the university, granted a large plot of land for the construction of AUW's permanent campus in the near Chittagong.

[9] In September 2006, the Parliament of Bangladesh ratified the university's charter, which guaranteed full autonomy and independence to AUW in its operations and academics — a unique arrangement in the region.

This inaugural class attended Access Academy, AUW's year-long bridge program designed to prepare underserved students for the rigors of university education.

[9] In April 2011, AUW held a foundation stone laying ceremony at the site of its permanent campus in Pahartoli, with the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the Chief Guest.

They represent 15 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Vietnam.

In January 2016, AUW launched Pathways for Promise to provide university education to female garment-factory workers and other women from vulnerable groups.

Rao is a distinguished political scientist who most recently served for eight years as Pro Director of at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.

[14] AUW Support Foundation, a 501(c)(3)-registered nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the primary source of funding mobilization for the university.

Therefore, AUW specially designed Access Academy, a one-year program which offers preparation in computer literacy, reading and writing in English, scientific thought, global history, and other subjects.

AUW, therefore, offers Pathways for Promise to students who require a longer period of intensive preparation in English language, math, and computer literacy before enrolling in Access Academy.