Syria Today | Learning the Hard Way

How hardships imposed by political upheaval are changing the face of higher education in Syria.

By Sarah Abu Assali
Photo Adel Samara

Almost a year into the crisis, protests that first emerged largely from mosques have also found their way onto campuses. Both public and private universities in Syria have witnessed armed clashes, student homicides, and most recently, exams under fire. Meanwhile, university teachers and administrators are struggling to keep the educational process going.

Risky exams
Mid-term exams at Syria’s six public universities, 17 private universities, 15 higher institutes, and several intermediate institutes usually take place from the end of December to the end of January.

In calmer cities such as Damascus and Aleppo, they proceeded normally - at least on the surface. In contrast, in restive places such as Homs, Hama, and Idelb, university and intermediate institute exams have been suspended until January 29, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.

Several media reports and students interviewed by Syria Today indicated that daily armed clashes in Homs have imposed great risks on students and teachers alike, which drove the ministry to suspend these exams.

“I could only do half of my technical exams because of the security situation,” said a senior IT student at Al-Ba’ath University in Homs who wished to remain anonymous.

She lost many of her colleagues because they were “accidentally killed or injured during armed clashes on their way to school”, and misses the old days “when we were care-free and studying was our main concern in life.”

An electrical engineering student at the same university who also requested anonymity described his experience there as “roller-coaster-like”. He recalled how he was almost killed on his way to take a technical exam in December when “three bullets passed over my head”.

Because of “the security situation that these [restive] cities are witnessing”, the Council of Higher Education is allowing students from Al-Ba’ath University in Homs and Hama and from the Idleb branch of Aleppo University to take their exams at other universities, state news agency SANA reported on January 9.   

This decision did not include students in Open Learning universities, who numbered 145,746 in the previous academic year, according to the Ministry of Higher Education, out of a total of roughly half a million registered students.

This transfer of students from Homs to Damascus University proved challenging for the university’s administration as it tried to accommodate the newcomers.

According to a teacher at the IT Department at Damascus University who requested anonymity, the large number of transferred students is “a burden on teachers”, and left administrators struggling to secure places, work out the attendance programme and put together schedules for final exams.

However, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics in the University of Damascus Abed Fadlyeh told Syria Today that “the number of these students is minor, so the pressure imposed is barely noticeable.”

But in Damascus, he pointed out, student attendance and achievements are suffering, especially among students living on the outskirts of the city or travelling from other governorates who have to go through security checkpoints to reach campus. He added that Open Learning students are most affected, because they attend classes on Fridays and Saturdays, when the unrest is at its height.

Georges Nouneh, an undergraduate English literature student at the University of Damascus, said there was nothing different about this academic year, except “the heavy security presence” to which students have become accustomed. “And of course, weekly pro-regime rallies in the city centre which sometimes hinder us from getting to university or force us to skip day-time classes,” he added, referring to demonstrations which cause the close of the city’s main streets.

Campus strife
Recently, the violence taking place in other Syrian cities reached the still relatively calm capital and created more tension among students.

On December 27, a biomedical engineering student at Damascus University shot two students dead and wounded three others, according to SANA, which called the incident a premeditated “terrorist act”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the killer, student Ammar Baloush, held different political views than his victims, who had been reporting anti-government activities going on inside the university to security forces.

“It was a tragic accident. It is a pity that dialogue among students is replaced by the language of violence and killing,” Minister of Higher Education Abdul Razak Cheikh Issa told Syria Today.

In Damascus, university protests started as early as April 2011, in the Science Faculty of Damascus University. A month later, more protests took place in the Faculty of Medicine, but according to amateur footage posted on YouTube, they were repressed immediately by security forces. SANA repeatedly denied such reports.

In Homs, on August 19 alone, the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) reported on their news website that approximately 80 students from Al-Ba’ath University were arrested after their campus was stormed “by security forces and pro-government Shabbiha (thugs) because students were accused of participating in peaceful demonstrations”.

Even in Aleppo, reportedly calm since unrest erupted, many student protests occurred. An amateur video posted on YouTube on January 12 showed hundreds of what it claims to be Aleppo University students chanting during a strike in the Faculty of Science.

Although located outside city centers, private universities have not been isolated from these happenings. Since October 2011, protests and clashes were reported at the Arab International University (AIU), Qalamoon and Yarmouk Universities, and the International University for Science and Technology (IUST). According to media reports, administrators responded by suspending classes for a few days and dismissing the students who were involved.

Teachers following suit?
Recently, academic protest is not limited to students. In November 2011, Firas al-Jawabra, an art teacher at IUST in Dera’a, publically resigned due to “the continuous killing, detention and injuring of IUST university students without any official condemnation by the university administration,” he wrote in his letter of resignation.

Jawabra also criticised “the security crackdown on the universities of Aleppo, Damascus, and [universities in] Dera’a, which is a sign of the brutal repression of protests,” and urged other university teachers to be role models and action-takers instead of being mere preachers.

However, others believe that teaching should not involve politics. The Damascus University IT teacher told Syria Today, “my job [as a teacher] forces me to keep my [political] stances to myself and to try to achieve a balance to proceed with the educational process objectively, in isolation from the polarisation that is happening among the students.”

Such hardships as universities, students, teachers and administrators are facing raise questions about their impacts on higher education and concerns about the future of a country that relies mostly on the capacities of its young people.

Fadlyeh believes it is too soon to predict any long-term effects. “It all depends on how long this crisis will last, since the consequences are measured against the political and security situation of the country…But the longer it lasts, the more dire the consequences can be.”