Higher Education in Post-Assad Syria: Challenges and Opportunities

15 April 2025, 13:00-14:00 BST

REGISTER HERE

On 8 December, 2024 at 6:18 AM, a 54-year dictatorship in Syria came to an end, creating an opportunity for a historic shift in Syria’s political, social and economic order. While the future of Syria is still uncertain, education will certainly play an important role in building back a peaceful future. Higher education in particular has the potential to promote peacebuilding and social justice, to address inequalities, and foster social cohesion. It can provide a space for research on peace-related topics, support economic recovery, and preserve local and national culture and heritage. Thus, building the capacity for quality, safe, and equitable higher education will play a vital role in Syria’s post-conflict recovery. If properly supported, higher education can empower individuals and communities by providing them with the advanced capabilities necessary for societies to assume genuine ownership over the recovery process. 

However, for more than 50 years under the former regime, higher education in Syria has been a site of political oppression, violence, domination, indoctrination and corruption. Syrian higher education needs to undergo a major reform. Moving HE from a site that perpetuates political violence and oppression to a site that leads to sustainable peacebuilding and social justice will be critical for the future of Syria and should be rooted in a contextual and historical understanding of the sector as well as in the Syrian communities’ current and future needs. 

In this panel, Rabie Nasser will interview Dr Oudai Tozan and Dr Basma Hajir regarding their forthcoming paper: Higher Education in Post-Assad Syria. The panel will examine the opportunities, challenges, and avenues of higher education reform in Syria, focusing on its role in economic recovery, social and transitional justice, and peacebuilding.  

Panelists: 

• Hamza Yusuf, INEE Country Focal Point for Syria
• Rabie Nasser, Co-founder and Manager of the Syrian Center for Policy Research and ERICC Syria Team Lead
• Dr Oudai Tozan, Director of Academic Programmes at the University of Oxford and ERICC Syria Principal  Investigator
• Dr Basma Hajir, Lecturer of Education and International Development at the University of Bristol.

If you have any questions about the webinar, contact syria@inee.org.