ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Damascus' Higher Education Minister Marwan al-Halabi paid a rare visit to northeast Syria's (Rojava) largest university on Thursday, announcing an effort to integrate it with a state-run institution.
This comes as Kurdish lawmakers and politicians affiliated with the enclave's administration are pushing to formalize Rojava University in a bid to improve access to public sector employment and higher education for Kurdish students.
Halabi was accompanied by the governor of Rojava’s Hasaka province, Nour al-Din Ahmad, where they “conducted an inspection tour of Rojava University and reviewed the level of equipment and infrastructure,” the Syrian higher education ministry said in a statement on Facebook.
Halabi was accompanied by Nour al-Din Ahmad, governor of Rojava’s Hasaka province, as they toured the university to review its equipment and infrastructure, the Syrian education ministry said in a statement on Facebook.
The two officials “affirmed their continued support for developing the educational process and expanding the university's capacity and services for students,” the statement added.
Halabi further underscored his ministry's vision to “gradually merge Rojava University with al-Furat University through a specialized national committee that would handle evaluation and protect rights,” ensuring "a fair academic transition and unification of standards within a stable national university system," the ministry added.
The merger would proceed in two phases, the minister said, detailing that the first, assessment and documentation, involves “a comprehensive survey of students, programs, staff, and infrastructure,” to ensure “no academic year or scientific effort is lost.”
The second phase, alignment and academic transition, includes “comparing curricula, determining course equivalencies, developing transition plans for students, addressing final-year students' status, and creating a unified digital student record,” alongside “an evaluation of personnel based on competence, qualification, and experience.”
The Syrian ministry's proposal comes as parliamentary efforts are underway to formalize Rojava University's status.
Yasser Suleiman Mansour, a Syrian lawmaker representing the Kurdish region, told Rudaw in mid-July that several lawmakers are working toward that goal to "ease the burden on Kurdish students who must travel to other provinces to pursue their studies."
The effort is "very important for the future of our youth," helping them avoid long-distance travel and high costs, he said.
The push to officially recognize Rojava University is part of broader efforts to integrate civilian and military institutions in the Kurdish-majority region into the Syrian state, following a late January agreement between the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), which governs the region, and interim authorities in Damascus.
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