Fourah Bay College (FBC) was founded on the 18th of February, 1827, by the Church Missionary Society – (CMS) for the training of teachers and missionaries to serve in the promotion of education and the spread of Christianity in West Africa. In 1876 it became adegree granting institution with an affliation to the University of Durham in England. On the recommendation of the Senate of the University of Dorham in 1960, it was granted a Royal Charter to become Fourah Bay College, The University of Sierra Leone. Before its current location on Mount Aureol, overlooking Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, Fourah Bay College was located at Cline Town, on the East End of Freetown, and then as a result of World War II Mabang in Northern Province.

In 1967, the College was merged with Njala University College, Moyamba District, to become the University of Sierra Leone, with a federal system. The latter was replaced in 1972 by a unitary structure which came to include the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) and the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM)