The Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies (TEMPUS) develops higher education in Syria
Within the context of reforms in the higher education sector and after forty years of nationalization, private universities in Syria entered in 2003. Consequently, the State’s direct objective was to make everyone participating in education and broaden the scope of participation in decision-making. In addition, this was enhanced by other indications in the same direction that puts an end to the militarization of university campuses and decreases the focus on the very national education for the benefit of focusing more on teaching foreign languages at all stages of higher education.
Samar Azmashly - Damascus, Al-Hayat
Today there are 15 private universities and four others currently being established in Syria. Most of these universities were established in cooperation with foreign universities in relatively remote regions, such as the Kalamoun University in Deir A’tieh (Damascus countryside), and thus came as an addition to the already existing six public universities. This was coincided with the emergence of open learning and the Virtual University, parallel education, and virtual learning which usually does not impose compulsory attendance but rather merely register students in the virtual university that is based on e-learning.
Despite all the progress that Syrian universities went through, they still have numerous deficiencies in meeting the needs of society, the most important of which is overcoming the technology and information obstacle. For universities to be able to play their required role in sustainable development, technological progress, contribution to production, and intellectual leadership of society, the whole educational structures and university statuses had to be reviewed. They had to be transformed from “traditional centers” for the graduation of students to “centers for building a new generation” that is able to grasp the updates in science, technology, and the flowing information revolution.
In the face of this reality from which Syrian universities suffer, and in order for them to turn into centers for revival, progress, and development and thus respond to changing global conditions, the Tempus Program (The Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies), which was launched in Europe in 1990, landed in Syria in 2002 with the aim of reforming the higher education systems in 27 partner states, including Syria.
Tempus is considered to be one of the EU programs that are designed to support eco-social reform or development in the partner states. The Programme focuses mainly on developing the higher education systems through cooperation between their institutions and the institutions of the EU member states.
The first phase of the program in Syria extended from 2002 to 2006, with around ten million Euros that were entirely spent. The program was then extended to include the period between 2007 and 2013. The program is being managed by the EU Delegation in Brussels through a network of national offices in each country.
The Tempus projects in Syria are coordinated by the Syrian National Tempus Office, which was established in January 2004 and is based at the Ministry of Higher Education. Its main activities consist of offering support to grant applicants, taking part in project evaluation, supporting implemented projects, and promoting Tempus.
The current programme offers two kinds of projects:
• Joint Projects based on multilateral partnerships between higher education institutions in the EU and the partner countries. Joint Projects are based on the bottom-up approach and will be selected following annual calls for proposals. Joint Projects aim at transferring knowledge between EU universities and institutions in the partner countries and between partner country institutions as appropriate.
• Structural Measures designed to support structural reform of higher education systems and strategic framework development at national level that the competent authorities of partner countries have clearly identified as priorities. Structural Measures can address the following issues: Governance reform and Higher education and society.
The persons in charge of Tempus in Syria visit universities and promote the program with academics, university chairmen, teachers, and students, based on the priorities set by the Syrian Ministry of Higher Education in cooperation with the EU. According to the national coordinator for Tempus Programme in Syria, Dr. Rami Ayoubi, these priorities include the establishment of institutes, faculties, new programs, university admission and acceptance policies, and the development of a statistical structure for supporting decisions in higher education. Then at a later stage, the Office helps applicants in submitting their proposals to the EU. Final results are issued six months after each annual deadline for a call, and usually at the end of October of each year, two or three projects are accepted, with 1.5 to 2.5 million Euro grants.
Ayoubi added that between 2003 and 2008 a total of 33 projects targeting mainly curriculum development at the Syrian universities were funded. To this day around 3 million Euros have been spent for the purchase of equipments for higher education institutions, 3 million Euros for expenses and staff salaries, in addition to around 4 million Euros for mobility to and from Europe. More than 80 students went to EU countries and more than 300 academics to partner countries. On the other hand, 300 academics came from EU countries to Syria, thus achieving the goal of the “Fostering Dialogue and Communication with the Other” project.
According to Ayoubi, the project is considered to be “a cooperation tool in higher education that plays a significant role in higher education in Syria with the contribution of most of its institutions where Tempus played a role in modernizing curricula and teaching methods, guaranteeing quality, and supporting the various facilities”. He highlighted the fact that Tempus supported the idea of learning without borders and pointed out that no Arab university was mentioned in the recent Shanghai ranking of the top 500 universities in the world.
The Syrian National Tempus Office follows up the implementation of the projects, offers assistance and guidance, and verifies their good progress and their achievement of their expected objectives through periodic meetings with each project’s team. Moreover, the office also takes part in the evaluation and selection of the submitted projects as well as in assisting applicants in meeting the requirements, clarifying their idea, and searching for European and regional partners. It also continues to offer support to the projects during their implementation, in addition to coordinating among the various concerned parties, i.e. the EU Commission in Brussels, the Ministry of Higher Education, the higher education sector institutions, the EU Delegation in Damascus, and the other Tempus offices in the region.
Although university and higher education students are the most affected by Tempus, the program does not offer direct grants to students. However, they participated in some of the implemented projects (9 out of 33 projects). Moreover, more than 75 students were sent to EU countries.
Out of 33 projects, the University of Damascus got the greatest number of projects with Tempus (15 projects), followed by Aleppo University north of the country (11 projects), Baath University in Homs (1 project), and Tishreen University in Lattaqiya (2 projects), the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences (2 projects), and the Ministry of Higher Education (2 projects). As grant-holders, France is the first country with 13 projects, followed by Germany (7 projects), Italy and United Kingdom (3 projects each), Spain, Czech Republic, Austria (1 project each), Greece and Sweden (2 projects each).
Higher education officials in Syria consider Tempus to be “one of the most significant models of successful scientific and academic cooperation between the EU and Syria”. University chairman Wael Mualla pointed to the “necessity of cooperation between universities and the various economic sectors in order to guarantee the conformity of their programs and graduates with the development requirements in a manner that contributes in introducing qualified persons to the labor market.” The Tempus office in Syria adopts projects that benefit the greatest number of universities and meet the greatest number of priorities of the Ministry of Higher Education.
It is noteworthy that the projects that were achieved in Syrian universities dealt with a variety of subjects, such as the development of e-libraries in Syrian universities, which gave them the opportunity to start developing their electronic libraries and enabling online access to any university library. This project brought together the Aleppo and Baath universities and the Eiffel net company with the University of Rome and the British Middlesex University and was managed from the European side by the British Robert Gordon University.
Also, the “Rehabilitation of Islamic historic cities” project that was adopted by Aleppo University aimed at developing a Master degree to highlight the importance of Islamic historic cities, which are the source of identity and heritage, and to preserve these exceptional archeological sites. The project targeted the development of ways and strategies to preserve historic cities in the context of sustainable development, while taking into account social needs and local capacities.
As part of one of the projects in medical sciences, the e-learning laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine in the Tishreen University in Lattakiya and the German Marburg University worked to enhance interaction between faculty members and students from the German side in order to be informed of the latest diagnosis and treatment developments in medical sciences. The laboratory comprises 15 computers that are used to access the sites of German universities and the e-learning center at Marburg University.
A Masters degree in information technology was developed at the Faculty of Engineering at Aleppo University in cooperation with five European universities (in France, Germany, and Britain). This project aims to raise the level of higher studies within a specific work program based on three main axes: defining the Masters curriculum in its current form, suggesting alternative solutions, establishing Masters degrees as models, establishing a research proficiency certificate for the member of the study committee to enable him/her to supervise theses, establishing a new PhD structure at Aleppo University that would be implemented in the other Syrian universities at a later stage. The project targets the mutual acknowledgment and equivalence of Syrian and European university degrees, reduced trips to Europe, and the linking of universities to society through interaction between the university institution and the various state sectors.
N.B: Text translated from Arabic by Eurojar team
Refer to the project fact sheet: TEMPUS (Trans-European Mobility Scheme for University Studies) (Syria)
Every step I take in my life, personally and professionally, reminds me that I didn't rise up to my potential. “If I had just been more careful in choosing my university education thus my profession, if only our universities were better, I would have ...”
Education in Syria is suffering from major deficiencies, mainly from lack of guidance before, during and after universities. As a graduate of the University of Aleppo, I struggled with outdated curricula, lack of technology and huge gaps between universities and the business society. I find that TEMPUS addresses greatly the needs of Syrian universities. For the generations after me, I really would like to remind them that those before Tempus struggled. They should take advantage of the privileges they have with the major reforms being implemented to university education in Syria through TEMPUS and other programs.
Taking on board of European education secular Arabic countries through such capable instruments as either TEMPUS or Erasmus Mundus is of sea change significance. Indeed, although not participants of Bologna Process or Tuning, these countries are encouraged to modernize their educational systems and further strengthen secular pillars they rely on against militant Islamic fundamentalist insurgency. Conversely, using education as one of the most universal instruments of intercultural dialogue, the EU society gets closer acquainted with the cultural peculiarities and values of Arabic world, eventually reducing anti-Arab and anti-Islamic prejudices and biases preeminent in certain quarters of western countries.
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I would like to be brief and thank Europa Jaratona program for its achievments in Jordan.
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It is good to hear that there is someone who really cares about our historical monuments. While reading the article, I was hoping to find so many Tunisian names to make sure that, also, in our country there are people who are hell-bent on preserving what is left of a glorious history. Tunisia, thanks to its location, welcomed many civilizations whose leaders built huge and glorious buildings. Not only in cities near the shores, but also in the far west cities like Sbitla, Kasserin...
I believe that in order to save the surviving monuments, there should be a campaign to make Tunisians aware of the significance of such a loss if those buildings become ruins.
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I have read this article with cautious and i was not happy of the approaches being written due i guess to lack of real understanding of current environmental issues we are facing. The problem of pollution will not be tackled only through fundings bec most of the money used is not appropriately used and if ever used we seek the traditional methods the old fashion way. We need to look at alternatives , less costs , better and more sustainable output. Waste problems are derived from mass consumerism and lack of understanding of what our lives should mean to us as far as human values and choices we should take in life. Building waste water treatment is needed but what is more needed is eduation and awereness and return to ethics and values. We can keep dumping money on projects but who would assure me that our resources are being well taken care of and not depleted in a fast way? Where is the concept of sustainibility?
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Having targeted the mutual acknowledgment between Europe and the Mediterranean counties let researchers look for more ways that can lead them to their right path in the specialized field. The best solution for us as researchers is to exchange information not only through exchanged trips but through exchanged studies and training because having done so, you will get more into the point than just because you get involved to other life that will push you to think of your life and the life of the peoples around you. Giving the researchers a change to get their education in Europe will open many windows for them and let them think of global issues.