20th century
LIU Global was founded in 1965 as Friends World College through an initiative of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Originally conceived as an international Quaker seminary, FWC's first campus was located on an abandoned airport, Mitchel Field, near Hempstead, New York, where the College's programs occupied unused barracks and hangars.
In the early 1970s, the College acquired the Livingston estate in Lloyd Harbor, New York through a bequest, and by 1972, it had relocated its North American center there, and in accordance with its vision for international education, had established satellite campuses in England, Kenya, India, Guatemala, and Japan. Later, it established campuses in Costa Rica, Israel, and China.
In order that its students might qualify for federally-guaranteed student loans and other Federal programs, the College dropped its formal Quaker affiliation in the mid-1970s and became nominally non-sectarian. However, the President at that time, Dr. George Watson, had already established a Quaker meeting on campus, and this remained until shortly before the College merged with Long Island University.
By the mid- to late-1980s, the College had encountered financial difficulties, and the sudden failure of its Israel program, plus the loss of a U.S. student to malaria in Kenya, helped bring about the Trustees' decision to accept an offer for merger from LIU. The Lloyd Harbor campus was sold to provide a much-needed cash influx, and the school was renamed Friends World Program. The North American campus was moved to LIU's Southampton College.
during the 1991–1992 academic year.
21st century
In the Fall of 2005, the program moved to LIU's Brooklyn Campus, after the campus was sold to Stony Brook University; thus the New York City Center was established. During this period, "Friends" was dropped, and the College became known as Global Studies LIU. In March 2007, the name Global College was adopted.
In January 2012, LIU launched an institution-wide rebranding campaign, and Global College became LIU Global. Around 70-90 students are currently enrolled at their centers and program sites worldwide.
After the events of the 2019-2023 COVID-19 pandemic, the enrolled number of students has dropped off from its original larger groups with the most recent enrollment class of 2030 following in their predecessor's footsteps.
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