Syrian Higher Education post 2011:

Abstract

This report details a collaborative enquiry, carried out by Syrian academics in exile in Turkey and academics from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, into the state of Syrian higher education (HE) post-2011. It was designed as a learning activity and a collaborative study and included two capacity-building workshops on data collection, research ethics and qualitative research methodologies run by the Cambridge research team members for their Syrian colleagues. Each contributed their unique knowledge, understanding and expertise to the undertaking, critical to which was the Syrian coresearchers’ reach back to former university colleagues and students still active in HE inside Syria. The Syrian and Cambridge team members jointly conducted the enquiry over a 12-month period, between 2017 and 2018. The nature, complexities and characteristics of undertaking research in conflict settings, particularly where people are dislocated and fearful, constituted a challenging learning experience for Syrian and Cambridge researchers alike. Due to the absence of reliable data on the state of Syrian HE post-2011, the literature review made use of grey literature1 reports on Syrian HE and where possible, some first person accounts that were reported through media outlets as well as in research reports. We have endeavoured to choose reports that are from reputable sources but are fully cognisant of the limitations of such an approach and have sought where possible to corroborate these.