Syrian Higher Education in Crisis: The Road Forward

After more than two years of war and civil unrest, Syria's higher education sector is facing a severe crisis, with educational and research facilities decimated, intellectual production and scientific research put on hold, and thousands of students' education interrupted indefinitely. In this panel, experts on Syria, higher education, and humanitarian intervention examined the current state of higher education in Syria and among Syrian refugees, and explored what programmatic interventions the international higher education sector and donor communities might pursue urgently to support Syrian academics and students.This discussion was co-sponsored by the Institute of International Education and Scholar Rescue Fund.

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Panelists:

Amal Alachkar, IIE-SRF Fellow from Syria; Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of California, Irvine

Moaath Al-Rajab, IIE-SRF Fellow from Syria; University in Exile Scholar at Parsons The New School for Design

Keith Watenpaugh, Associate Professor and Director, Human Rights Initiative, University of California, Davis

Moderator: Allan Goodman, President and CEO, Institute of International Education

Introductions:

Mark Angelson, Chairman, Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund David Van Zandt, President, The New School