Koya University is located in the city of Koya (Koysinjaq), which is a 1.0 hr drive to the East of the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil (Arbil, Hewlér) in Kurdistan Region of F.R. Iraq. It is on the foothills of a beautiful high mountain. Its campus has been carefully laid out to embrace the beautiful mountainous nature.
The Koya University was established in 2003 and has developed noticeably. In 2010, Koya University was restructured from colleges to faculty systems to enhance the interactions between similar academic fields. Today the University has 6 faculties -Education, Engineering, Sciences and Health, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Education and Medicine which consist of 27 departments in different fields, such as Petroleum Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Clinical Psychology, Social Science and Medical Microbiology as well as Sport Education.
After the Kurdish uprising of 1991 and the liberation of large parts of Iraqi Kurdistan, the process of promoting education become the stream policy of Kurdish establishment. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) played a vital role in setting up academic institutions. In addition to developing Salahaddin University, the KRG reopened University of Sulaimani as well as establishing Duhok University.
Continuing to promoting education as a milestone in nation building process the KRG opened both colleges of Education, Sharia and Law during academic year of 2000-2001 in the city of Koya which were affiliated to Sulaimani University. Later, they became the foundation for Koya University. On 11 October 2003 in the presence of Prime Minister Dr Barham Salah, the Minister of Higher Education Ministry, students, and teachers, the foundation of Koya University was laid by Mr Jalal Talabani.
In accordance with the ministerial order issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research / Decree No.370/1/6 on 28//1/ 2004 and in compliance with the article(1) of Council of Ministers, Presidency decree No.(218) on 29 November 2003 Koya University was established for the academic year (2003–2004). The first graduation ceremony of Koya University was held on July, 20th, 2006.