University of Afrin

Afrin University (Kurdish: Zanîngeha Efrînê‎) was an unrecognized university in the city of Afrin in northern Syria. It was the second university to open in Rojava[1] (after the Mesopotamian Social Sciences Academy which opened ten months before)[2] and the first university to open in the Afrin District.

It opened on 26 July 2015 to an intake of students said to be anywhere from 250[3] to 850.[4] In August of the same year it had 22 professors (who were required to have a master's degree or doctorate)[1] on their staff. Six additional labs (for engineering and medicine) opened at the start of the new term.[3] In August it ran programs in literature (including in Kurmanji), journalism, engineering, medicine, and economics.[3] It included institutes for medicine, topographic engineering, music, theatre, business administration and the Kurdish language.[1] The university had a five-year engineering program and four-year programs for all other specializations; and a two-tier fee system for local and international students, with price primarily dependant on the course of study chosen.[1]

The university was shut down after the beginning of the Turkish military operation in Afrin in January 2018, and students were transferred to the University of Rojava in Qamishli.[5] During the subsequent Turkish occupation, Ahrar al-Sharqiya (a faction of the Syrian National Army) arrested Dr Abdul Majeed Izzat Sheikho, the dean of Kurdish literature at the University of Afrin.[6]

See also

References
  1. Mlla Drwish, Sardar (18 May 2016). "Syria's first Kurdish university attracts controversy as well as students". www.al-monitor.com. Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  2. Biehl, Janet (25 August 2015). "Liberated learning in Rojava". www.redpepper.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  3. "Afrin University is opened today". en.hawarnews.com. Hawar News Agency. 9 August 2016. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  4. "Rector and students in this university part of the resistance". anfenglishmobile.com. Firat News Agency. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  5. "Afrin University students continuing their studies at Rojava's University - ANHA | Ajansa Nûçeyan a Hawar". Hawar News Agency. 29 June 2018. Archived from the original on 3 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  6. Crabapple, Molly (11 April 2018). "How Turkey's Campaign in Afrin Is Stoking Syrian Hatreds". www.nybooks.com. The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.

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