Destruction of HE will demand post-war reform of sector

The imprint that the current war in Sudan and the post-war environment will have on universities underscores the importance of introducing structural reforms in the country’s higher education sector, as well as involving the Association of Sudanese Universities and private higher education institutions in post-war recovery efforts.

This is captured in the study ‘Higher Education Institutions in Sudan: Challenges of war and post-war challenges’ published in the March issue of the Ibn Khaldoun Journal for Studies and Researches.

The study, by Dr Eman Bashier Nour Al-Dayem from the Al-Nahda University College in Sudan, used available higher education data in Sudan to examine the war’s impact on higher education.

As part of the study, interviews were conducted with professors, students and employees affected by the war, some of which were conducted via phone, particularly with key respondents, to document the effect of the war on the overall higher educational process in Sudan and identify the potential challenges that the sector and its work are likely to face after the war ends and stability returns.

The impact of the war

The war in Sudan started in mid-April 2023, involving the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

In just under a year, RSF-SAF clashes killed about 13,900 people, injured about 27,700 and displaced an estimated 8.1 million Sudanese, who had to leave their homes, including 6.3 million people who were displaced within the country and another 1.8 million people who fled across the border, according to a report on 24 February 2024 published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The damage to the higher education sector has also been significant and higher education commentators have called for international support in efforts to rebuild it once the war ends.

“With more than 100 universities, including the prestigious University of Khartoum, suffering extensive damage, looting, or complete destruction, the effects on Sudan’s academic community and the future of its higher education are profound,” Professor Mohamed Hassan, the president of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences in Italy, told University World News.

“This destruction has led to a complete standstill in teaching and research activities in many universities and higher education institutions, significantly disrupting the country’s educational progress,” he added.

The study confirms the impact of the war: “War is destructive to Sudan’s higher education system and its fundamental structures, evidenced by reduced expenditure [on higher education], lower enrolment rates in secondary schools and universities, and the increased migration of teachers and staff.”

According to the research, limited funds are likely to be available for higher and general education and the war is likely to hinder the accumulation of human capital and economic development because of the destruction of the education system, its infrastructure, and the loss of teachers and staff.

“Reducing available funds for higher education during and after the war may be attractive to the incoming government, placing an additional burden on public higher education institutions,” the study explained.

Internet shutdown

Adil Mohamed Ali, the head of the institutional development programme at the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society and a coordinator with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, said that, as a result of the war between RSF, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and SAF, led by Al-Burhan’s former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, “… few of the universities in Sudan are trying to expedite the graduation of students about to finish their courses before the onset of the war”.

“Some of the universities have started to continue classes in several faculties remotely. However, the war has led to the shutdown of the internet in most of the states of the country and each of the warring parties is blaming the other for this.

“This happened in the first week of February 2024 and, although the internet has been restored in some states, it is still missing in others,” Ali told University World News.

As a result, the Alliance and Network of Engineers of the University of Khartoum, the Sudan University Engineers Association, the Democratic Engineers Association and the Alliance of Professors at the Sudan University of Science and Technology issued a statement in February calling on the international community to put pressure on RSF and SAF to “prevent the targeting of electricity, water and communications stations which are considered human rights, and using them as weapons in the current war [which] constitutes a violation of international laws, including the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit harming vital civilian structures”, according to Ali.

“The [targeting of the] internet will also impact negatively the recently launched initiative managed by the ministry of higher education and scientific research in partnership with the Union of Arab Scientific Research Councils for confronting the repercussions of the war on Sudanese institutions of higher education and scientific research,” Ali said.

The initiative aims at facilitating free-of-charge digital education and electronic services for universities and higher education institutions.

But, stressed Ali, “… the only way to minimise the war’s impact on universities is to stop the war”.

Post-war transitional government

According to the study, urgent steps must be taken to “facilitate the return of normality in the higher education sector in Sudan as quickly as possible”.

These urgent steps include activating the role of the Association of Sudanese Universities and viewing it as “a real parliament for Sudanese universities” in which they interact, discuss their issues, and present their own solution proposals in a collective way directly to the concerned institutions and the ministry of higher education and scientific research, said the study.

The study called for viewing private higher education institutions as partners in the educational process and one of its pillars [on par with] government higher education institutions. It also called for providing more investment incentives to encourage private sector to invest in the higher education system.

In addition, the research presented in the article called for a ban on student political activity in universities during the next transitional period that will follow the current war and obliging students to do so until the legislation related to this matter is completed.

The study calls on various international and regional organisations and relevant donors to contribute to the reconstruction and restoration of part of the destroyed infrastructure of higher education institutions once the situation in Sudan stabilises.

Additional reforms

Ali said that, to reform universities after the war and get higher education processes back to normal, public higher education institutions should be fully autonomous in their governance.

There should be no interference from the state in how the universities are run. More financial resources are to be availed to the higher education institutions. As for the privately owned higher education institutions, the state should provide more facilities and financial incentives to encourage the establishment of high-quality education facilities at a reasonable cost to the students, he said.

Expanding further, Professor Bakri Osman Saeed, the president of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the president of the Sudan International University, told University World News: “When the war is over, the higher education sector will require significant additional funding which will not come from the government with limited resources and many competing interests.”

“There must be a wide appeal to international donors and philanthropic bodies to support higher education in Sudan and help the sector to stand on its feet again. Universities need to adopt brave new measures to cope with the difficult circumstances,” Saeed added.

“This process should be led by the [Sudan] Ministry of Higher Education with the support of the Association of Sudanese Universities, which is an association of vice-chancellors and presidents of Sudanese universities and university colleges.

“A wide consultation process, involving all stakeholders, is required to generate choices and to own the process of change,” he said.

“There will be a need to cut out or limit the offering of unpopular programmes to create a leaner higher education sector and to pool resources of public universities. Excess capacity of these resources can be made available for purchase by private universities.

“Some private institutions might consider mergers to pool resources and students and make the educational process more cost-effective,” he recommended.

“There will be a transitional period, after cessation of hostilities, during which the universities in the safe states might continue to teach displaced students in addition to their own. The spirit of solidarity shown by these universities has been highly commendable,” Saeed added.

Looking ahead

Hassan said that, looking ahead, “the post-conflict phase presents a significant opportunity and challenge to rebuild Sudan’s top public universities, such as the University of Khartoum, University of Gezira, Al Neelain University, and Sudan University of Science and Technology, among others”.

[Building back better] should be the guiding principle, aiming not just to restore what was lost but to enhance these institutions’ capacity for quality education and research,” Hassan added.

“This ambitious goal will require substantial international aid and cooperation, recognising that the decline in the quality of Sudanese higher education is not solely a consequence of the war, but also of longstanding issues like political instability, resource constraints and inadequate support to infrastructure,” he said.

In September 2023, the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences issued an appeal to national, regional and international academic institutions, national academies of science, United Nations structures as well as academic and research institutions of the African Union to help Sudan’s university staff and students who have been displaced in the country’s armed conflict.