Libya Restart: a journey analysis

June 30, 2020

Libya Restart: a journey analysis

About

Since 2014 UNIMED has committed its work to support Higher Education Institutions in crisis emergencies, promoting cooperation as a priority, through capacity building, mobility, exchange of ideas and sharing of knowledge. In our view, Higher Education can represent the spine for the country’s reconstruction, for its future. Universities are the point of departure for civil society, a place where discussing reconstruction programmes, a space for experimenting and proposing solutions to a crisis that is likely to erode the social fabric.

In this long journey, we learnt that Universities can play a decisive role in easing the crises, in rebuilding competencies and shaping the future of countries. This is particularly true in the case of Libya.

UNIMED has started the collaboration with Libyan HEIs since 2015 in the framework of Erasmus plus programme through some projects of Capacity Building, while now our presence in the country is quite solid and we share a large spectrum of initiatives and activities with Libyan Higher Education system. In our opinion and due to our experience, Universities in Libya can really make the difference through empowerment and collaboration, being the University considered as a key player for stability by the local population. In 2018 UNIMED decided to launch the Libya Restart project, an institutional initiative aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the Libyan Higher Education System, through a research activity performed jointly by UNIMED staff and Libyan colleagues.

We spent one year collecting and analyzing data and documentation, discussing results with our friends in Libya, sharing ideas, making mistakes, finding alternative sources and interpretations. Libya Restart is the concrete result of our work.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/libyarestart

Report Methodology

The objective of the Libya Restart Report was to generate an overview over the Higher Education System in Libya. The research has been structured along three phases: a quantitative analysis, a qualitative analysis and a validation process by Libyan partners. UNIMED submitted a survey to 18 Libyan Universities, 16 responded. Universities were selected for their size and relevance at national level; their geographical distribution; to generate a balance between partners involved and not involved in EU funded projects; to involve the universities already in contact with UNIMED due to previous collaborations.

List of participating Universities

University of Zawia
Misurata University
Sirte University
Elmergib University
Sabratha University
Sebha University
Libyan International Medical University
University of Benghazi
The University of Ajdabiya
Omar Al-Mukhtar University
Bani Waleed University
Gharyan University
University of Tripoli
University of Aljufra
Libyan Academy
Asmarya University

Online Conference

UNIMED has organized a webinar and an online Conference in June 2020 to discuss the results of the Libya Restart analysis and advance in the dialogue on the needs of the Libyan HEIs.

An online meeting with Libyan Universities was organized on June 15th at 10.00 am CET, with the support of the EU Delegation in Libya and in cooperatin with the Libyan Ministry of Education and the Libyan National Erasmus Office Coordinator. The main purpose of the webinar on June 15th was to present the results of the analysis conducted, discuss and validate the Libya Restart recommendations, joinlty begin to imagine sustainable tailored actions.

After this preliminary discussion, a wider Libya Restart Conference was scheduled on June 24th at 10.00 am CET with Libyan Universities and international stakeholders, in the framework of the UNIMED Week in Brussels 2020 online, with the support of the EU Delegation in Libya and in cooperatin with the Libyan Ministry of Education and the Libyan National Erasmus Office Coordinator, with the aim to discuss concrete partnerships, actions and initiatives to support Libya’s future developments.

Both webinars were held through Zoom, the recodings are made available as Resources.

The main purpose of the online events was to discuss the Report results and to validate the Recommendations proposed. The Libya Restart Conference wanted to be the starting point for more operational initiatives in Libya for the benefit of the whole HE system, the country’s reconstruction and the developments of the entire Mediterranean region.

How to contribute

Shall you want to know more about the Libya Restart report, contribute to the discussion or share valuable resources and insights, please contact UNIMED at unimed@uni-med.net. We will be happy to know more!

Programme

The detailed Agenda of the webinar with Libyan Universities on June 15, 2020, available here.

The detailed Agenda of the Libya Restart Conference on June 24, 2020, is available here.

The main purpose of the Conference was to discuss the Report on Higher Education in Libya and the recommendations proposed by UNIMED, with the aim of defining concrete partnerships, actions and initiatives to support Libya’s future developments.

Resources

We are eager to present the results of the Libya Restart analysis and the tools developed to join the discussions.