Sudanese universities .. the challenge of staying ..! – The face of the truth – ✍️ Ibrahim Shaqlawi
Last week, the Ministry of Higher Education announced the results of admission to universities for the year 2023-2025, in the midst of challenges that threaten university education and take the future of thousands of students in front of a crossroads. The universities destroyed by the war have become the manifestation of a crisis which could relate to the vision of education itself, to its grandfather and to its location in the modern Sudanese state project after the war.
Despite the technical efforts that the Ministry of Higher Education has made to ensure the equity of admission, the figures reveal a reluctance greater than 40% of students eligible for the demand for government universities. This number cannot be separated from the repercussions of war, loss of confidence in the results of education and the decline in the attractiveness of specializations which represented the pillars of the national Renaissance.
In the light of the radical transformations which take place in the world today, the development of programs and the modernization of colleges has become an inevitable necessity for any educational establishment. While neighboring countries take fast measures to integrate artificial intelligence, the Internet of Objects and robots of their education systems, most Sudanese universities are always stuck in traditional models that do not comply with the nature of the next knowledge economy.
The most obvious paradox perhaps appears in the reluctance of students to register for specializations such as physics and mathematics, or agriculture, industrial engineering and education, specializations today in the countries of the world, the pillars of the fourth industrial revolution.
Does this mean that universities have not caused their vision of these specialties? Or do students see doors for a dead end without real work or an applied horizon? Be that as it may, this reluctance puts us before the need to review the philosophy of education, its consequences and its areas that follow the rhythm of the vision of the new Sudanese state.
Despite the deterioration, the University of Khartoum continues to maintain its symbolic and academic position, but this “old shower” is not sufficient at a time when universities need to be dynamic centers of creativity and development, not just theoretical information incubators. The fact is that the status of universities is measured today with the extent of its association with the labor market and its ability to produce employment on employment, not only with its old past.
Official figures also reveal a damaged educational map because the States of Darfur, South and West Kordofan have become areas closed before university education, due to the control of the rapid support militia and the absence of public institutions. This closure helps to deepen the developmental and societal gap between the center and the campaign, in addition to threatening the future of education in these states, which threatens the accumulation of reasons for future political and social instability.
It should be noted that a good percentage of students are heading towards private universities, such as the National University and the University of Al -Ahda, despite the low demand for higher education. But this trend, although it gives an impression of alternatives, also reveals the limited options for students, in particular in the light of major quality differences between private and government education establishments, and the material cost that excludes large groups of students.
From this scene, the war that has shown experience shows that the Sudanese student is not only a negative recipient, but an actor in national affairs, while thousands of students responded to the call of the popular resistance, took up arms and presented the logistical and media aid of the armed forces. This experience should not be forgotten, but it must rather transform into an inherent component in the educational process: we need an education that graduates students who know how to love their homeland, not how they leave it.
The objective is not the militarization of education, but rather to strengthen a firm civil conscience, through studies which teach the concepts of national service, the management of crises, the awareness of national security and link knowledge to the national context. Universities must transform into research centers on disaster, emergency and conflict problems, as well as technology.
It is no less important than the experiences of thousands of students who found themselves outside Sudan and joined universities abroad, they therefore returned with various experiences in teaching methods, administrative structure and the use of modern science. This category represents a cognitive resource that must be used, as well as Sudanese teachers for alienation, to formulate a new vision of higher education.
Consequently, according to the face of truth, the development of higher education becomes a national project. It begins to restructure universities, modernize programs, stimulate scientific research and link it to the needs of the market and society. There is no without education development, no security without education, or an without education without education. The choice in front of our country has become clear: either a serious and radical reform of the online education system with time, or the monster of the worn models that nourish despair and deepen the gap between the citizen and the State.
You are fine and well.
Tuesday August 9, 2025 ad shglawi55@gmail.com
