 The school was meant to provide for the local population, though its initial enrollment in the 1950s was entirely Italian.The university was founded in 1958, albeit by a different name, the ""Catholic College of Santa Famiglia"".Indeed in 1940 Dr. Vincenzo Di Meglio promoted the creation of the "School of Medicine" in Italian Asmara (the first university institution in Eritrea, located initially in the Liceo Martini), under the direction of Prof. Ferro Luzzi.