Houses of wisdom matter: The responsibility to protect and rebuild higher education in the Arab World

Sultan Barakat, Sansom Milton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Higher education is often an unrecognized casualty of war. Over the past few years, it has increasingly found itself caught in the crossfire of spreading regional conflicts in the Arab world with deadly clampdowns on student protestors in Egypt, the bombing of campuses in Syria and Gaza, and the closure of universities in Libya and Yemen. The severe toll that regional conflicts have taken on higher education is further compounded by a failure to appreciate the strategic role of the sector in stabilizing and promoting the recovery of wartorn communities and states.

This paper argues that higher education, properly supported, is able to act as a catalyst for the recovery of war-torn countries in the Arab world, not only by supplying the skills and knowledge needed to reconstruct shattered economic and physical infrastructure, but also by supporting the restoration of collapsed governance systems and fostering social cohesion. As home to the strategically vital 18- 25 age group, higher education can help shelter and protect an important subset of young men and women during crisis situations, maintaining their hopes in the future and preventing them from being driven into the hands of violent groups. For these reasons, it is high time that Arab states and the international community accept their collective responsibility to protect higher education during conflict and rebuild shattered institutions in its aftermath.
Original languageEnglish
JournalBrookings Institution
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

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