ASMARA, Ethiopia, April 25— When Andebrhan Giorgis was named president of Asmara University in July 1991, a few months after the overthrow of the Marxist government in Ethiopia, the institution was an empty, echoing building. The Ethiopian military had stripped it of everything the year before, transferring teachers and students, books, computers, laboratory equipment, school records, even kitchen utensils to southern Ethiopia.      
                     Now, not even two years after Asmara was captured by the guerrilla fighters of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, and with the approach of this northern region's independence from Ethiopia, Asmara University has managed to rebuild itself from scratch. It is in no small part a testament to the perseverance of Mr. Andebrhan, a former Harvard University graduate student and guerrilla fighter; but it also reflects the priorities of the front, which has always treated education as a cornerstone of the movement.
"We're trying to rebuild a country ravaged by a long war," Mr. Andebrhan said. "People have been reduced to a level of poverty unheard of. We can't rebuild our country with ignoramuses." A Formula for Rebuilding
Asmara University, founded 40 years ago by Italian nuns and once the symbol of Ethiopian dominance, has become a microcosm of how the Liberation Front is trying to rebuild Eritrea: through organization, sacrifice, self-denial and what critics call an arrogant self-assurance that they will succeed.
"We can't really brag of having a university," said Mr. Andebrhan. "We're not yet one." But there are now 3,250 students, more than twice the peak under the Marxist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. There are 106 professors, 12,000 donated books and a new chemistry laboratory.
For most Eritreans who did not emigrate, Asmara University offers their first access to higher education in 30 years. Emperor Haile Selassie, under whose rule Eritrea was formally annexed to Ethiopia in 1962, and the Marxists who took over the Addis Ababa government in the 1970's discriminated against residents of Eritrea in the university's admissions policy. More than 70 percent of its teachers and 90 percent of its students were Ethiopian. Moved, Then Closed
Then in July 1990, with Asmara Under siege by the front, the university was transferred to Agarfa, south of Addis Ababa. Within a semester, it closed and the students were drafted into the military.
Since it reopened, the turnout has been tremendous. Last year there were 14,000 applicants for about 1,600 places in the freshman class. The campus has a serious air, with a sense of purpose imparted by the Liberation Front. In the early years of the war, no Eritrean fighter could leave the training camp without achieving literacy. Their education continued at the front.
At Asmara University, tuition, food and housing are free, but conditions are spartan. Many students share books, reading in shifts. Their dormitories hold up to 40 per room in racks of bunk beds. The classes are in English, though many students have difficulty with the language. 'I Want to Learn'
Michael Uqbay, 21, shares a rancid-smelling dormitory with 35 others, spending 14 hours a day on campus so that he can grab an hour here and there to read books that he must share with several other students. But as far as he is concerned, these are not difficulties.
"I study chemistry and physics, but I do not know what I want to do," he said, struggling with the English words. "I want to learn and then share my knowledge with others."
Although in theory it is independent, the university relies on the government for its $4.3 million yearly budget. The 46-year-old Mr. Andebrhan, who earned a master's degree in business from the University of Colorado and spent time at Harvard before he joined the Liberation Front and fought for 19 years, has relied mostly on donations. The library has been rebuilt from donated American university books. Of the 32 computers, 20 were donated by the United Nations Development Project. Equipment for the chemistry laboratory was donated by the front's chemistry commission, which made pharmaceuticals during the war.
Like the Liberation Front, the university has shed much of its Marxist orientation. "In the past there were hardly any sciences," said Mr. Andebrhan. "You had Marxist theoreticians. What good were they?"
But there remains a touch of authoritarianism, a sense that the good of the country takes priority. Last year, when classes became too crowded, all members of the third-year class were mobilized for national service and had to suspend their education.
Map of Ethiopia showing location of Asmara. readmore