Kosovo and the United States of America share a bonding friendship. Once the Kosovo war ended in 1999 after the NATO intervention, prominent Kosovars and Albanian Diaspora sought a way to honor and memorialize the major role of United States during the conflict. They had the idea in establishing a private non-profit University with a model of higher education equivalent to a university in the United States. Kosovo went through re-building after the war, preparing students for careers was deemed critical. Immense discussions led to a major donation on behalf of the Union Fund for the Reconstruction of Kosova (UFORK) funding the start-up of the American University of Kosovo Foundation in 2002.