HE system struggles to keep going amid fears of new civil war

Renewed political violence in South Sudan is harming this war-torn country’s already fragile higher education sector, academics and international officials say.

They told University World News how a resurgence of conflicts between government rivals has stymied academic progress, delaying efforts to build a workforce for the world’s newest sovereign state, created in 2011. Within two years, disputes between factions led by President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar sparked civil war until 2020, when an uneasy peace was secured. This is now threatening to collapse into a renewed full conflict.

Escalating militia violence (including by forces independent from both main factions), cabinet reshuffles and arrests of senior officials have been reported. On Saturday, 3 May, the last remaining hospital in Old Fangak in Jonglei State was destroyed in an attack that killed seven people and injured another 20, fuelling fears of civil war returning in full force, CNN reported.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned in March 2025 of increasing breaches of basic freedoms and security protected under the law. More than half the population of 11.4 million faces acute food insecurity, 2 million are displaced internally, and 2.28 million are seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, said in a news release in April.

Tough times for students, staff

Given such pressures, South Sudan’s higher education institutions, already struggling before the latest civil strife, are facing tough times, said Dr Leben Moro, a professor and head of the Directorate of Scientific and Cultural External Relations at the University of Juba in the South Sudanese capital.

“The current situation complicates the situation further. For instance, lecturers and non-teaching staff in the seven public universities haven’t been paid for a year or so,” he said, referring to damage to the main pipeline funnelling oil from South Sudan to the broader world via Sudan during its northern neighbour’s civil war. This cut nearly two-thirds of the South Sudan state’s revenue.

“The government explains that they have no money as the oil they relied on to generate national revenue couldn’t reach international markets because of the war that has disrupted extraction and supply to markets,” said Moro, who is also a trustee at Rift Valley Institute, a Nairobi, Kenya-based non-profit organisation working in Eastern and Central Africa.

The University of Juba is the oldest public university in South Sudan, founded in 1975, with a student population of 40,000 in 2024. Other public universities include the University of Bahr El-Ghazal, located in the Wau region; the Dr John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology, in Bor; the Rumbek University of Science and Technology, in Rumbek; the Upper Nile University, in Malakal and in Juba; and the University of Northern Bahr El-Ghazal, in Aweil, north-western South Sudan.

There are five major private universities, run mainly by religious organisations.

Are students studying?

“Cumulatively, these universities share a student population of about 100,000. The University of Juba is the largest. Some are small, with about 800 students,” Moro said.

It is unclear how many of these students are actively studying, given the inability of state-funded institutions to pay their lecturers. However, Moro said that private institutions, dependent on fees, operate relatively normally.

Abraham Mabor Koriom, a masters student in diplomacy and international relations at the University of Juba, said that, at the public universities, many lecturers have withdrawn their labour: “We have our classes interrupted due to frequent strikes by lecturers, and now the prevailing situation makes the matter worse. I was to embark on my research work. Now this seems unlikely.

“And even if I am cleared to go for data collection [field work, including interviews], the security situation will not enable me and other students to do it, meaning we won’t be able to complete our masters degrees soon unless calm returns,” Koriom told University World News, adding that political disputes were crippling the entire country.

Safety comes first

Samuel Arok had enrolled for a masters degree in animal husbandry and breeding on the Upper Nile University’s Malakal campus, but he could not proceed because of the renewed conflicts. “Studying needs a relaxed environment, but the ongoing tensions breed anxiety and uneasiness. We had to prioritise safety, so I couldn’t go to my classes, and the numbers in lecture halls keep dwindling. We continue monitoring the situation before we can decide to go back or not,” he said.

While it has yet to complete a comprehensive assessment on the recent conflict and insecurity, Romain Parlier, spokesperson for UNESCO, agreed it had exacerbated existing difficulties in higher education in South Sudan. “UNESCO follows the situation in South Sudan closely and stands ready to support education authorities and partners in developing a coordinated response that protects and promotes access to higher education, while further supporting the entire education system in the country,” he told University World News.

Moro said a key problem has been foreign academics and other experts fleeing the country, damaging collaborations and partnerships with other universities and development organisations.

Collaboration sorely needed

“Government alone cannot do everything. We need partners to help our nascent or dilapidated university infrastructures. We need visiting lecturers and universities’ collaboration for benchmarking learning, fellowship and research. All this can’t happen now, based on what is happening in the country,” Moro warned.

The war, he said, continues to weaken the purchasing power of many families in South Sudan, leaving them unable to fund university education for their children, especially those in private universities.

“What this means is that many of the young people that we need as a labour resource to bring renaissance in our country are dropping out, and this has a ripple effect on the country’s stability in the long run,” he said.

Remote learning not adopted

The South Sudan situation is compounded by universities’ failure to adopt remote technology to deliver lectures online, so teachers could consult with students from safe locations and minimise interruptions.

“As we speak, all university classes are strictly in person. Power shortages and minimal internet penetration are the main setbacks,” Moro explained.

Despite the challenges, Parlier said progress had been made in the South Sudanese higher education system in recent years, with UNESCO’s support. He said there was ongoing support to develop government policies on education, in general, and science, technology, and innovation, in particular, while supporting the development of a five-year strategic plan for the ministry of higher education, science, and technology.

“UNESCO, with funding from the African Development Bank, is supporting infrastructural development and equipping a training complex for agriculture professions at the School of Applied and Industrial Sciences at the University of Juba,” he said, adding that UNESCO and the bank have facilitated access to technical and vocational education and training, or TVET, for over 6,000 young people across South Sudan, helping to build skills, improve livelihoods and promote social cohesion.

Support for virtual learning needed

To enable students to connect with lecturers without a physical lecture hall, to complete their studies and contribute to the national reconstruction, Arok called on development partners and the South Sudan government to support universities in providing distance and virtual learning.

“These wars and conflicts have interrupted internet connectivity as cables and telecommunication masts are destroyed, , but there are ways of creating internet balloons that can be put up as an alternative infrastructure to deliver lectures and teaching materials reliably online, so we don’t lose out,” he proposed. “We don’t want to defer our dreams, which means delayed national progress.”

While welcoming this suggestion, Koriom said there was also a need to provide students and lecturers with grants to help with internet costs, arguing that current prices are prohibitive.

“As it is now, many of us can’t afford the internet cost, and even if the lectures were to go online, it will lock out many, thus creating a further divide that education should bridge,” he said.

Higher education ‘neglected’

Moro called on development organisations such as UNESCO, the UN Development Programme and diplomatic missions in South Sudan to focus more on the South Sudan higher education sector, saying current donors have put more emphasis on basic rather than higher education.

“Many international organisations and partners have neglected the higher education sector at this moment. We need more focus on universities, too, so that we can have a comprehensive education system, from basic to higher levels, if we are keen and serious about building future South Sudan manpower.”