Building partnerships of support in conflict-affected regions

What does it mean to be a University of Sanctuary in the UK when the overwhelming majority of displaced people live in the Global South? This session will look at this question exploring how universities are increasingly working with partner institutions in regions of conflict, and will identify the challenges and opportunities facing those forging these partnerships. 

It will begin by outlining the wider context for such partnership, focussing particularly on a report undertaken by the British Council, Higher Education Partnerships in Conflict-Affected Regions, which explored examples of partnerships in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine and Ukraine. 

The study found that such partnerships were vital for the development of human capital and for advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion values, as well as contributing to a culture of peacebuilding and reconciliation and supporting the development of peace.

It will then examine a project in detail: the development of Sham University in Syria. 50% of Sham’s student base is drawn from local internally-displaced people (IDP) camps, and the remainder come from towns in Azaz and surrounding areas. Colleagues at Sussex and Kent worked with their counterparts at Sham to develop the necessary governance, curricula, training, and accreditation to enable the university to function, grow and engage with the international higher education community. 

The final part of the session will allow delegates to consider some of the ideas and issues raised, and to discuss ways in which their own work can help to build similar partnerships with other universities in regions of conflict. 

• • Geena Whitehead (British Council) is a Senior Project Manager in the Insight Hub at the British Council. She wrote the report on Higher Education Partnerships in Conflict-Affected Regions.
  • Tahir Zaman (University of Sussex) is Associate Professor in Human Geography in the School of Global Studies at Sussex. He has an interest in refugee agency and alternative socio-cultural understandings of refuge during times of mass-displacement. He co-led on developing the partnership with Sham University.
  • Tom Parkinson (University of Kent) is a Reader at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education. His research focuses on global disparities in access to opportunity and resources in higher education and the relationship between higher education, society, the individual and the state. He co-led the partnership with Sham University.