Higher education in post-conflict societies

Settings, challenges and priorities

Higher education plays a crucial role in capacity building for livelihood improvements, development, innovation and progress. Without a strong and sound higher education system and institutions that can provide quality education, post-conflict countries will struggle to move from destruction to recovery and socio-economic development and from insecurity and violence to stability and lasting peace. Despite the importance of higher education for recovery, development and progress, rebuilding and reforming higher education systems and institutions is not a priority for local and international actors involved in recovery efforts around the world. Ultimately, this undermines future prospects for post-conflict countries and sets them to fail in the long-run. This paper sheds the light on post-conflict settings and different approaches and actors involved in recovery processes and operations. It highlights post-conflict challenges, maps out medium-to-long-term recovery priorities and examines where higher education fits in the plans of local and international actors. Finally, the paper explores how to improve current practices and how external actors can help countries rebuild their higher education systems and institutions in the aftermath of violent conflict.