Higher Education in Syria’s Transition Process

PANEL I: 4.00 pm – 5.30 pm | Technical exchange

Keynote address and interdisciplinary roundtable: What role can university partnerships play in the reconstruction of Syria? Findings from a fact-finding mission by the German Jordanian University will form the starting point for an interdisciplinary discussion on needs, potential for cooperation and the political framework. The focus will be on perspectives from global health, digitalisation, agricultural sciences and migration research.

With contributions from Prof. Dr Ralf Roßkopf (German Jordanian University), Member of the Bundestag Ayse Asar (Committee on Research, Technology, Space and Technology Assessment), Prof. Dr Malek Bajbouj (Charité Centre for Global Health), Dr Wahib Sahwan (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research) and Prof. Dr Iyad Rahwan (Max Planck Institute for Human Development). Moderator: Prof. Dr Naika Foroutan, Humboldt University of Berlin / Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research.

Organised by Humboldt University of Berlin, the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM), the DAAD and the German Jordanian University.

PANEL II: 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm | Dialogue on Higher Education Policy

Policy keynote and panel discussion with participation from the audience: What are the reform priorities for the Syrian higher education system? And what role can international partners and the academic diaspora play in its further development?

Prof. Dr Abdul Hamid Al-Khaled, Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Syrian Arab Republic, will provide an overview of the current priorities for higher education reform.

This will be followed by a panel discussion with Anke Reiffenstuel, Deputy Head of Department for Culture, Education and Science at the Federal Foreign Office, and Prof. Dr Hani Harb, Vice-President of the German-Syrian Research Foundation (DSFG). This will be followed by a direct exchange with the audience – in particular regarding the expectations, prospects and potential contributions of the Syrian diaspora to the future of higher education in Syria. Moderator: Asia Haidar, journalist.

Curated by the BMZ platform ‘A New Beginning for Syria’ in collaboration with the German Jordanian University.

The closing remarks will be delivered by Prof. Dr Julia von Blumenthal, President of Humboldt University of Berlin.

From 8.00 pm | Closing reception

Afterwards, we invite you to join us for drinks, light refreshments and informal conversation.

Language of the event: German and Arabic with simultaneous interpreting