Hiiraan Online
Wednesday December 2, 2015
STOCKHOLM (HOL) –
Before warlords overthrew Somalia’s central government in 1991, an intact
Somali education system was in place, and students and citizens enjoyed the
provision of high quality well-regulated education and healthcare services that
that met international standards.
However, the
relentless conflict had destroyed all livelihoods and institutions, leaving
Somalis helpless with millions fled the country to seek asylum in many
countries around the world.
Private education
institutes have since filled the void; with communities have taken up the role
of educating youth, however, very few universities have since established
international intercontinental partnership with other education institutions.
However, as the horn
of Africa nation is recovering from decades of war, foreign institutions
started showing appetite to help improving private education system in Somalia
by reviving the health research, policy, and practice links with Somali
universities.
On November 25, six
leading Somali universities attended workshop on knowledge exchange with
undergraduates in Sweden to build collaborative bridges between Somali academic
institutions and the health professionals in the Diaspora.
The two sides agreed
to build health research development collaborative programme with Swedish
universities to promote the establishment of inter-university accreditation and
curriculum.
During the workshop,
representatives from Benadir University, Galkayo University, Puntland
University of Science & Technology, East Africa University, Hargeisa
University and Amoud University explored the future the opportunity of
benefiting from the Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA).
The project aims to
enable getting Somali expatriate experts on board in key Somali institutions
including universities to provide the strongly needed technical support in the
fields of health system, academic training and research capacity development.
According to
organizers, the workshop aimed to promote the establishment of inter-university
accreditation and curricula evaluation committees to improve the quality of
education in the country.
As Somali formed the
first central government after more than 23 years of war and elected a new
president in 2012, the higher education in Somalia still remains largely
private. Several universities in the country were listed among the 100 best
universities in Africa, and were hailed as a triumph for grass-roots initiatives.