Fourah Bay College was founded by the Church Missionary Society in 1827, for the purpose of training Africans as schoolmasters, catechists and clergymen. The establishment of Fourah Bay College intended, on the one hand ,to provide its pupils, the children of the freed slaves and liberated Africans with opportunities to obtain training in basic skills, needed to survive in their new environment, and on the other hand, to train those of its pupils who displayed the requisite aptitude as teachers and priests.
The College together with the Bo Teachers College, the School of Hygiene and the Paramedical School in Bo, constituted Njala University as an autonomous body, with Bonthe Technical Training College (BONTECH) as an affiliate tertiary institution. Currently, Njala University is comprised of two campuses, the Bo Campus and Njala Campus. The University has eight Schools: Agriculture, Education, Environmental Sciences, Social Sciences, Community Health Sciences, Technology, Forestry and Horticulture, and Medical Sciences.