Academics meet in York to declare support for universities shattered by conflict

Researchers and teachers are gathering in York this week in the wake of a series of recent violent attacks on colleges and universities.

In April, 147 people died when al-Shabab militants attacked Garissa University College in Kenya.

Another focus will be on Syria, where the higher education system has almost entirely collapsed with unknown consequences for many students and their teachers.

Iraq has seen campuses looted, burned or destroyed in post-war violence - leaving hundreds of academics dead.

The York Accord, on Friday, will aim to draw further attention to the importance of higher education in war-torn countries and will see a call for system to be established to allow students and academics from conflict-affected institutions to study elsewhere in the world.

Professor Sultan Barakat, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar, said this could be a quota agreement - with universities accepting two scholarships a year for a student and an academic displaced by conflict.

“That’s all it takes, to show a degree of solidarity,” Prof Barakat said.

“We would like to set up a structure that helps those universities organise their efforts.

“Now it is all very ad-hoc. A lot of it is driven by the good will of individual institutions but it doesn’t add up to much.”

Prof Barakat said: “Universities are at the centre of the Arab Spring. It is very much driven by young, educated people who feel they could have had a better life.

“This is why so many universities have become a target for a lot of security operations in Egypt, Libya and Syria. And I don’t think it is going to change any time soon.

“My hope is that universities can really stand by those which are affected by conflict in a way that demonstrates an awareness of their circumstances, but also an understanding of the potential that exists for proper and mutual collaboration.”

The University of York has joined with the Brookings Doha Centre, and the Institute of International Education (IIE) to convene the meeting.

Prof Barakat said; “We are hoping to get a minimum understanding amongst everyone attending of what are the basic principles for protection and recovery after conflict for higher education.”

Other key figures attending include Professor Joseph Isaac, President of the African Methodist Episcopal University, Liberia and the President of Kabul University, Habibullah Habib.

And Dr Allan Goodman, the President of the Institute of International Education, is to receive an honorary degree from the University of York.

York’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Koen Lamberts, said: “I am proud that York is hosting the Accord.

“We have an enduring commitment to helping academics and institutions who are innocent victims of conflict. The Accord is a way of helping them in times of great peril and it reflects one of our main research themes of justice and equality.”