Student voices
Student voices
Two ways of answering the same question. The lightning talks name what is wrong and propose what to do about it; the My Reality testimonies describe what it is like to live inside it.
Selected
Contributions the programme committee chose to highlight, for the clarity of what they argue or the force of what they describe.
Syrian Universities: Between Theoretical Plans and Practical Reality
ماهر فريز عيسى
Damascus University — Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (MSc)
The University and the Space to Speak: What Has Not Yet Fallen
زياد محمد مكرم الطرابلسي
Homs University — Faculty of Arts, French
Are We Graduating Doctors or Memorisers? A Call to Reform Medical Education in Syria
عبد الرحمن سليمان الصبيخان
Al Andalus University for Medical Sciences — Medicine, Year 5
The Last Goodbye
Name withheld at the speaker’s request
A Damascus University student whose studies were interrupted
The Steady Hand: Between Arabic Calligraphy and the Emergency Room
شهد عبدو محمد
Medical student — emergency medicine
I Learned Medicine Outside My Faculty
تمام علي بدران
Damascus University — Medicine, Year 5
Lightning talks
Five-minute talks. Each names a specific problem in Syrian higher education and proposes something concrete.
Syrian Universities: Between Theoretical Plans and Practical Reality
ماهر فريز عيسى
Damascus University — Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (MSc)
The University and the Space to Speak: What Has Not Yet Fallen
زياد محمد مكرم الطرابلسي
Homs University — Faculty of Arts, French
Are We Graduating Doctors or Memorisers? A Call to Reform Medical Education in Syria
عبد الرحمن سليمان الصبيخان
Al Andalus University for Medical Sciences — Medicine, Year 5
Moving Between Education Systems: From Obstacle to Opportunity
ماسة كبريتة
Istanbul Gelişim University — Software Engineering
Entering the Labour Market: When Your Work Is Accused of Being AI
Name withheld at the speaker’s request
First-year architecture student
Interdisciplinary Engineering Projects
عبد الكريم علاء الكريدي
Aleppo University — Aeronautical Engineering, Year 1
Establishing a Civil Aviation Faculty in Syria
عبد القادر أحمد المسلم
Aleppo — secondary school graduate
An Application for Diabetic Patients in Syria
Name withheld at the speaker’s request
Pharmacy graduate
So That the Tragedy Is Not Repeated
د. أسماء حسن صالح
Tishreen University — Faculty of Dentistry
My Reality
Short first-hand testimonies. Not arguments — accounts of what studying in Syria has actually been like.
These testimonies are published as their authors told them. We publish them to give Syrian students room to speak, not to endorse the views they contain.
The Last Goodbye
Name withheld at the speaker’s request
A Damascus University student whose studies were interrupted
The Steady Hand: Between Arabic Calligraphy and the Emergency Room
شهد عبدو محمد
Medical student — emergency medicine
I Learned Medicine Outside My Faculty
تمام علي بدران
Damascus University — Medicine, Year 5
Ventilation in Exam Halls Is Not a Luxury
علا محمد طيفور عكرمة وخالد طيفور عكرمة
Latakia University — submitted by Ola, delivered by Khaled on her behalf
Attendance and Respect: The Story of an Exam Date
محمد سراج الدين عايق
Aleppo University — Mechanical Engineering (graduate) · Idlib
Choosing a Major on Your Own
Shahd Almasri
First-year student in Lebanon, intending to return to Syria
Dormitory Bathrooms: Where Student Volunteering Stops
حسام حسن خصروف
Latakia University — pre-medical preparatory year
How these were published
Everyone here submitted to an open call which stated that submitting means agreeing to publication with attribution, unless the sender asked otherwise. Several did ask otherwise, and each of those requests has been honoured exactly as made — some recordings are absent, some names are withheld, and one is published here but nowhere else. Anyone who changes their mind can write to us and their contribution will be removed without question.