Higher education in the Arab world has increasingly found itself caught in the crossfire of spreading regional conflicts. The severe toll that regional conflicts have taken on higher education is further compounded by a failure to appreciate the strategic role of the sector in stabilizing and promoting the recovery of war-torn communities and states. This situation is deeply troubling.
In a recent Policy Briefing for the Brookings Doha Center titled "Houses of Wisdom Matter: The Responsibility to Protect and Rebuild Higher Education in the Arab World", we argue that higher education, when properly supported, acts as a catalyst for the recovery of war-torn countries in the Arab world, not only by supplying the skills and knowledge needed to reconstruct shattered economic and physical infrastructure, but also by supporting the restoration of collapsed governance and fostering social cohesion.
The full article originally appears in Al Fanar Media.