(Zaman Al Wasl)- Higher education and post-graduation study have become a dream for students live the Southern of Damascus for the last 6 years, which forced the student to look for alternatives, as they have only two only, either to take a chance of the additional session of the University of Aleppo, or to go for virtual university.
The University of Aleppo in the liberated areas of Aleppo had announced exceptional session for students from Southern Damascus after establishing a branch in Damascus and countryside. The session is allocated for students in year 4 and year 5 to complete their study in the same specialty and apply for exams of subjects they missed, and then they would get a graduation certificate from the University of Liberated Aleppo. On condition to apply for transfer from their university and provide a list of subjects they studied and marks certificate from their old University, which is the difficult condition because their universities are in besieged areas, or students are wanted for the regime.
Mohammed Saeed, a student of History at the University of Damascus, his study was interrupted due to the siege although he had only 3 subjects for graduation. He was happy for the exceptional session in the University of Aleppo, but he finds problems to conditions of the university, as he cannot have a marks certificate because it required the student to attend in person or someone with power of attorney to university to obtain it, but the university accepted registering students on condition to sign pledge to provide the marks certificate when possible.
Online learning or “Remote learning” is well known in many countries, although it is not as credible as traditional universities, still good alternative for students who were deprived of a chance for university studies.
Translation by Yusra Ahmed
The University of Rashd provided scholarships for students from southern of Damascus in Politics and Management. The University is for online learning, managed by Turkish researchers and professors and accredited by the University of Asia in Malaysia and has 31 partnerships around the world.
Abdul Salam Abbas, manager “Nafaz”, the Student Services Centre, which provides free services for applicants, reported that almost 130 students from southern of Damascus had benefited from the scholarships of Rashd University for virtual learning for Diploma of Management that taught in English, and Diploma of Politics which taught in Arabic. He confirmed that all scholarships are free, but the students need to pay $100 for subjects they did not pass as fees for repeating the exam.
Abbas continued: “we, in Nafaz, provide internet services for student to follow the interactive lecture online, and applying for exams, therefore, we had sorted out the problem of weak internet network, and high cost of using it as well, besides providing lectures and all other services for free as part of our cooperation with the University of Rashd”.
Mohammed al-Ali, a university student had left his university study because he was wanted by regime’s security, he found remote learning best option to him, although it was in a different speciality. “in 2012, the way to university was difficult from Yarmouk camp in Damascus was full of regime’s barriers, therefore, I preferred to stop going to university thinking that the situation will not last long, but for 5 years now, I still the regime to be thrown over to complete my study, so I was happy to take a chance of the scholarship of Management in the University of Bashr ”.
Although these options are not optimal for many students, as the matter of recognising certificate granted by them is still not clear, but in the end, it is still considered acceptable option amid the difficult situation of Syrians.
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