Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the impact of conflict upon higher education. It begins by assessing the impact of high levels of violence and insecurity on higher education during and after conflict and the measures taken to protect the sector. A range of impacts of conflict on the sector are then analysed including the human cost of death and displacement, physical destruction, issues of access and equity, and psycho-social needs. The final section considers examples of resilience of higher education during conflict and the important of the state for mediating the impact of conflict on higher education systems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Notes
- 1.
Interview with anonymous lecturer, Peshawar University. York, UK, July 2015.
- 2.
For a review of measures to protect higher education from attack in conflict and non-conflict zones, see Novelli and Selenica (2014).
- 3.
Interviews with senior academics from Basra University, including a former University President and Dean of the Faculty of Law, who wish to remain anonymous. Amman, Jordan, December 2010.
- 4.
Interviews with 50 Iraqi academics. Amman, Jordan. June 2009–February 2011.
- 5.
Interviews with 50 Iraqi academics. Amman, Jordan. June 2009–February 2011.
- 6.
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Data accessed 14/03/16.
- 7.
Interviews with 50 Iraqi academics. Amman, Jordan. June 2009–February 2011.
- 8.
Data gathered by research assistant, Andrii Uhlov.
- 9.
Interviews with anonymous senior academics including the Deans of Science and Medicine faculties and the Director of Reconstruction at Misrata University . Misrata, Libya, November 2012.
- 10.
Interviews with two senior academics, based at Al Azhar University and the Islamic University of Gaza , who wish to remain anonymous. London, UK, February 2016.
- 11.
Interview, Professor Khalid Ismail, former Dean of Faculty of Linguistics, University of Baghdad . Amman, Jordan, December 2010.
- 12.
Interviews with 50 Iraqi academics. Amman, Jordan. June 2009–February 2011.
- 13.
Author interviews, academics at Al Azhar University and the Islamic University of Gaza , who wish to remain anonymous. London, UK, February 2016.
- 14.
Interviews, four Syrian academics who wish to remain anonymous. Doha, Qatar, January 2017.
List of Works Cited
Abdo, W. (2015, February 6). To Be Syrian and a Professor: Recipe for Tragedy. Al Fanar Media.
ADB. (2003). A New Start for Afghanistan’s Education Sector. Manila: Asian Development Bank: South Asian Department.
Africa Watch. (1991). Academic Freedom and Human Rights Abuses in Africa. Africa Watch Report. Human Rights Watch.
AIHRC. (2009). Fair Access of Children to Education in Afghanistan. Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
Ajoub, O., & Istanbelli, M. (2015, March 16). Snapshots from Syrian Cities on the Fourth Anniversary of the Uprising. Syria Deeply.
al-Abd, T. (2014, August 11). Under Calm Exterior, Horror Reigns in IS-controlled Raqqa. Al Monitor.
Al-Bakaa, T. (2013). Higher Education in a Tremulous Environment: The Shock Makes the Iraqi Society Forget to Face the Drain of Its Scientific Brain. Personal Website of Tahir Al-Bakaa.
Al-Droubi, Z. (2012, April 17). Syrian Uprising Takes Toll on Scientific Community. SciDev.Net.
Al-Haj Ali, M., & Nelson, M. (2015, June 1). ‘No Point in Fighting’: Damascus Youth Under the Shadow of Conscription. Syria Direct.
Alibrahim, M. (2016, February 5). Displaced Syrian Private Universities Struggle to Educate Their Students. Al-Fanar Media.
Al-Tamimi, A. J. (2015). Aspects of Islamic State (IS) Administration in Ninawa Province: Part I. aymennjawad.org .
Al-Tikriti, N. (2005). From Showcase to Basket Case: Education in Iraq. ISIM Review, 15, 24–25.
Arsalan, A. (2003). Higher Education in Iraq. Stockholm (Högskoleverket): National Agency for Higher Education.
Ayres, D. (2000). Anatomy of a Crisis: Education, Development and the State in Cambodia, 1953–1998. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Ayyash-Abdo, H. (2010). Subjective Well-Being During Political Violence and Uncertainty: A Study of College Youth in Lebanon. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2(3), 340–361. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01038.x.
Babury, M. O., & Hayward, F. (2013). A Lifetime of Trauma: Mental Health Challenges for Higher Education in a Conflict Environment in Afghanistan. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(68), 1–22.
Badri, A., Crutzen, R., & Van den Borne, H. W. (2012). Exposures to War-Related Traumatic Events and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among Displaced Darfuri Female University Students: An Exploratory Study. BMC Public Health, 12(603). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-603.
Baiza, Y. (2013). Education in Afghanistan: Developments, Influences and Legacies Since 1901. London/New York: Routledge.
Barakat, S., & Larson, A. (2014). Fragile States: A Donor-Serving Concept? Issues with Interpretations of Fragile Statehood in Afghanistan. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 8(1), 21–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2013.770263.
Barclay, A. (2002). The Political Economy of Brain Drain at Institutions of Higher Learning in Conflict Countries: Case of the University of Liberia. African Issues, 30(1), 42–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1548450500006296.
Barnard, A. (2013, March 28). Syria’s War Invades a Campus That Acted as a Sanctuary. The New York Times.
Benedek, W. (1997). International Cooperation and Support of Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of Studies in International Education, 1(1), 69–78.
Beverwijk, J. (2006). The Genesis of a System: Coalition Formation in Mozambican Higher Education, 1993–2003 (PhD Thesis). Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, University of Twente.
Bradford, E., & Wilson, M. (2013). When Terrorists Target Schools: An Exploratory Analysis of Attacks on Educational Institutions. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 28(2), 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-013-9128-8.
Buckland, P. (2005). Reshaping the Future: Education and Postconflict Reconstruction. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Butler, D. (2015, September 23). Lost Generation Looms as Refugees Miss University. Nature News.
Carrington, D. (2014, March 20). Rebel Academics Set Up University to Save Syria’s ‘Lost Generation’. CNN.
Clarke, J. S. (2014, January 9). Syria’s Conflict Takes Its Toll on Academy and Academics Alike. Times Higher Education.
Crossette, B. (2016). Syria’s Academics, Caught ‘Between a Hammer and a Hard Place’. PassBlue. Ralph Bunch Institute, CUNY Graduate Center.
Davies, L. (2004a). Education and Conflict: Complexity and Chaos. London: Routledge.
Davies, L. (2009a). Capacity Development for Education Systems in Fragile Contexts (Working Paper). ETF/GTZ.
Davis, R., Taylor, A., & Murphy, E. (2014). Gender, Conscription and Protection, and the War in Syria. Forced Migration Review, 47, 35–38.
Dayani, M. (1999, October 24). Colombia’s Dirty War Intensifies on University Campuses. The Observer.
Dizdar, S., & Kemal, B. (1996). Report on Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Historical Development, Present State, and Needs Assessment. Papers on Higher Education. UNESCO.
Drwish, S. M. (2016, May18). Syria’s First Kurdish University Attracts Controversy as Well as Students. Al Monitor.
ESCWA. (2014). Conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic: Macroeconomic Implications and Obstacles to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). Technical Paper 5.
Faye, R. (2010). Barriers to Higher Education for Women in Southern Sudan. Bergen University College Journal, 1, 18.
Federici, V. (2015). The Rise of Rojava: Kurdish Autonomy in the Syrian Conflict. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 35(2), 81–90.
Fields, C. (2007). The Long Road Back: Liberia Turns to AASCU for Help in Rebuilding Their Higher Education System. Public Purpose, June–August. American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Fishstein, P., Paterson, A., & Roe, A. (2012). Mapping of Research Capacity in Afghanistan. London: UK Department for International Development.
Gates, S., Nygård, H., Strand, H., & Urdal, H. (2016). Trends in Armed Conflict, 1946–2014. Conflict Trends, 1, Peace Research Institute Oslo.
GCPEA. (2012). Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions During Conflict. Report. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
GCPEA. (2013a). Draft Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
GCPEA (2013b). Institutional Autonomy and the Protection of Higher Education from Attack. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
GCPEA. (2013c). Protect Schools and Universities from Military Use. Report. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
GCPEA. (2014a). Education Under Attack 2014. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
GCPEA. (2014b). Principles of State Responsibility to Protect Higher Education from Attack. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
GCPEA. (2015). Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
Glioti, A. (2013, July 11). Syrian War Keeps University Students at Home. Al Monitor.
Greenland, J. (1974). The Reform of Education in Burundi: Enlightened Theory Faced with Political Reality. Comparative Education, 10(1), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305006740100107.
Hekmatullah, S. A. (2004). History of Education in Afghanistan. ReliefWeb.
HIPS. (2013). The State of Higher Education in Somalia: Privatization, Rapid Growth, and the Need for Regulation. The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies.
Hoole, S. R. (2007). Academic Freedom in Sri Lanka. Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 19(4), 507–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402650701681079.
Ibreljic, I., Kulenovic, S., Kadusic, A., & Smajic, S. (2006). Migration Flows in Bosnia and Herzegovina After 1992. Conference Paper. 46th ERSA Congress, Volos, Greece.
IIEP. (2010). Guidebook for Planning Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction. International Institute for Educational Planning.
Jaber, S. S. (2012). Developing a Self-Help Guide for Traumatised University Students in Iraq (PhD Thesis). University of Nottingham.
Jamal, M., & Bowker, J. (2015, May 3). Students from Rebel Areas Unable to Complete University Studies. Syria Direct.
Jarecki, H., & Kaisth, D. (2009). Scholar Rescue in the Modern World. New York: Institute of International Education.
Jawad, S., & The Current State of Iraqi Higher and General Education. (2012). In D. Adriaensens, W. Treunen, S. Zemni, C. Parker, & L. De Cauter (Eds.), Beyond Educide: Sanctions, Occupation and the Struggle for Higher Education in Iraq (pp. 23–30). Gent: Academia Press.
Khalilzad, Z. (2006, December 11). Prt Tikrit: The Effect of Debaathification in Salah Ad Din. Wikileaks. 06BAGHDAD4517.
Knuth, R. (2006). Burning Books and Levelling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction. Westport: Praeger.
Kostelny, K., & Wessells, M. (2010). Psychosocial Assessment of Education in Gaza and Recommendations for Response. Ramallah: UNESCO.
Krieger, Z. (2007, May 18). Iraq’s Universities Near Collapse. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Kubaisy, N., & Kubaisy, T. (2011). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Among Iraqi Intellectual Immigrants After Occupation 2003. Conference Paper. Institute of International Education/Post War Reconstruction and Development Unit Conference on ‘Reconstruction of Higher Education in Iraq Post conflict’ in Amman, Jordan, January 27–28, 2011.
Laessing, U. (2017, April 10). Professors Clear Debris at Mosul University, Wrecked by IS. Reuters.
Lai, B., & Thyne, C. (2007). The Effect of Civil War on Education, 1980–1997. Journal of Peace Research, 44(3), 277–292.
Lloyd, M. (2004, July 2). Guatemala’s Long-Persecuted Majority Gets a College of Its Own. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Mahshi, K. (2003). Afghanistan: Catching Up on Lost Time. International Institute for Educational Planning Newsletter, 21(1).
Majeed, S. S. (2009). Impact of Crises on Scientific and Research Activities of Faculty Members: A Comparative Study (Iraq and Jordan). In UNESCO (Ed.), Towards an Arab Higher Education Space: International Challenges and Societal Responsibilities (pp. 563–575). Proceedings of the Arab Regional Conference on Higher Education, Cairo, May 31 – June 2, 2009. UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States.
Mario, M., Fry, P., Levy, L., & Chilundo, A. (2003). Higher Education in Mozambique: A Case Study. James Currey/Partnership for Higher Education in Africa.
Massey, S. (1996, November 15). Afghans Fight to Keep Peace. Times Higher Education Supplement.
Matic, B. (2004). Statement at the Meeting of the Inter-Academy Council for South-Eastern Europe. Budva, October 7–8, 2004. Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, Podgorica.
Mazawi, A. E. (2005). Contrasting Perspectives on Higher Education Governance in the Arab States (Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. 20). Springer.
MoHE/IIEP. (2004). Strategic Action Plan for the Development of Higher Education in Afghanistan. Ministry of Higher Education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and International Institute for Education Planning.
MoHE-A. (2009). National Higher Education Strategic Plan: 2010–2014. Ministry of Higher Education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Morris, L. (2016, March 19). A Tale of Two Cities in Aleppo: Rubble on One Side, Packed Restaurants on the Other. The Washington Post.
Moughrabi, F. (2004). Palestinian Universities Under Siege. International Higher Education, 36, 9–10.
Moussa, M., & Bates, G. (2011). A Preliminary Investigation of Lebanese Students’ Strategies for Coping with Stressful Events. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 14(5), 489–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2010.486779.
Mouzahem, H. (2014, January 7). Syrian Education a Casualty of War. Al Monitor.
Nelles, W. (2005). Education, Underdevelopment, Unnecessary War and Human Security in Kosovo/Kosova. International Journal of Educational Development, 25(1), 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.07.001.
Newby, L. (2009). Education, Technology and Conflict: The Use and Perceptions of the Internet in Palestinian Higher Education (MSc Dissertation). University of Oxford.
Ngaruko, F., & Nkurunziza, J. (2000). An Economic Interpretation of Conflict in Burundi. Journal of African Economies, 9(3), 370–409. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/9.3.370.
Nkurunziza, J., & Ngaruko, F. (2002). Explaining Growth in Burundi: 1960–2000 (The Centre for the Study of African Economies Working Paper Series). Centre for the Study of African Economies.
Novelli, M. (2010). The New Geopolitics of Educational Aid: From Cold Wars to Holy Wars? International Journal of Educational Development, 30(5), 453–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.03.012.
Novelli, M., & Selenica, E. (2014). Protecting Higher Education from Attack. In GCPEA (Ed.), Education Under Attack 2014 (pp. 93–102). New York: Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
O’Malley, B. (2010). The Longer-Term Impact of Attacks on Education on Education Systems, Development and Fragility and the Implications for Policy Responses. Background Paper Prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011.
O’Malley, B. (2011, October 9). Academics Facing Death for Their Ideas. University World News, Issue No. 192.
Obura, A. (2003). Never Again: Educational Reconstruction in Rwanda. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning.
Oweini, A. (1998). How Students Coped with the War: The Experience of Lebanon. The Journal of Higher Education, 69(4), 406–423.
Panter-Brick, C., Eggerman, M., Mojadidi, A., & McDade, T. (2008). Social Stressors, Mental Health, and Physiological Stress in an Urban Elite of Young Afghans in Kabul. American Journal of Human Biology, 20(6), 627–641. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20797.
PNA. (2009). The Palestinian National Early Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gaza, 2009–2010. International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza. Sharm El-Sheikh, Arab Republic of Egypt, March 2, 2009.
Porter, A. L. (2003). Iraqi Engineering: Where Has All the Research Gone? Science and Public Policy, 30(2), 97–105. https://doi.org/10.3152/147154303781780614.
Quinn, R. (2010). Attacks on Higher Education Communities: A Holistic, Human Rights Approach to Protection. In UNESCO (Ed.), Protecting Education from Attack: A State-of-the-Art Review (pp. 99–110). Paris: UNESCO.
Reddy, J. (2005). 5/6ths of Iraq’s Higher Learning Institutions Burnt, Looted, Wrecked; 48 Profs Slain; UNU Calls for World Help to Repair System. United Nations University.
Richards, L., & Wall, S. (2000). Iraqi Medical Education Under the Intellectual Embargo. The Lancet, 355, 1093–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02049-3.
Rose, P., & Greeley, M. (2006). Education in Fragile States: Capturing Lessons and Identifying Good Practice. Prepared for the DAC Fragile States Group Service Delivery Workstream Sub-Team for Education Services.
Sany, J. (2010). Education and Conflict in Côte d’Ivoire (Special Report 235). United State Institute for Peace.
SCPR. (2013). War on Development: Socioeconomic Monitoring Report of Syria – Second Quarterly Report (April–June 2013). Syrian Center for Policy Research.
SCPR. (2014). Squandering Humanity: Socioeconomic Monitoring Report on Syria Combined Third and Fourth Quarter Report (July–December 2013). Syrian Center for Policy Research.
SCPR. (2015). Alienation and Violence: Impact of Syria Crisis Report 2014. Syrian Center for Policy Research.
Shanahan, M., & Cockburn, K. (2005, March 2). Rice Researchers Forced to Flee Côte d’Ivoire Violence. SciDev.net.
Sophoan, P. (1997, May 15–16). Educational Destruction and Reconstruction in Cambodia. In S. Tawil (Ed.), Educational Destruction and Reconstruction in Disrupted Societies (pp. 43–50). Final Report and Case Studies, UNESCO.
Spurr, J. (2007). Iraqi Libraries and Archives in Peril: Survival in a Time of Invasion, Chaos, and Civil Conflict, A Report.
Stam, D. (Ed.). (2016). International Dictionary of Library Histories. London/New York: Routledge.
Stansfield, G. (2007). Iraq: People, History, Politics. Cambridge: Polity.
START. (2014). Terrorist Attacks on Educational Institutions. Background Report. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
Stewart, F., & Brown, G. (2009). Fragile States (CRISE Working Paper Number 51). Oxford: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity.
Tahirsyzaj, A. (2010). Higher Education in Kosovo: Major Changes, Reforms, and Development Trends in the Post-Conflict Period at the University of Prishtina. Interchange, 41(2), 171–183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-010-9117-0.
Talab, R. (2002). Kabul University Library in Afghanistan: Postwar Emergence. International Leads, 16(3), 1–2, 6, 8.
Taylor, S. (2014). Fragile and Conflict-Affected States: Exploring the Relationship Between Governance, Instability and Violence. Stability: International Journal of Security and Development, 3(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.5334/sta.dy.
Tierney, W. (2005). Transformation, Reform and Renewal in Afghanistan. International Higher Education, 41, 19–20.
UNDP. (2008). Post-Conflict Economic Recovery: Enabling Local Ingenuity. Crisis Prevention and Recovery Report 2008. United Nations Development Programme.
UNDP. (2010). One Year After Report: Gaza Early Recovery and Reconstruction Needs Assessment. Jerusalem: United Nations Development Programme.
UNESCO. (2002). Educational Reconstruction in Afghanistan: Transitional Support Strategy 2002–2004. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
UNESCO. (2011). The Hidden Crisis: Education and Armed Conflict. Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
UNESCO. (2015a). Bridging Learning Gaps for Youth: UNESCO Education Response to the Syria Crisis (2015–2016). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
UNESCO. (2015b). Rapid Assessment of Higher Education Institutions in Gaza: Data Analysis Report. United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization/Enabling Education Network CIC.
Williams, L. (2000, February 4). Beirut’s American Campus Pins Hopes on New Tower. Times Higher Education Supplement.
Yacobi, H. (2008). Academic Fortress: The Case of Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem. In W. Wiewel & D. Perry (Eds.), Global Universities and Urban Development: Case Studies and Analysis (pp. 257–272). Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
Yahia, M. (2012, September 16). Conflict in Syria Forces International Research Centre to Move Staff. Nature Middle East.
Yahia, M. (2015, October 7). Safekeeping Syria’s Genetic Plant Heritage. Nature Middle East.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Milton, S. (2018). Impact of Conflict. In: Higher Education and Post-Conflict Recovery . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65349-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65349-5_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65348-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65349-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)