\n<\/p>\n
The outbreak of fighting across the Middle East could prompt universities to rethink expansion plans in the area, with attracting staff and students likely to become ever more difficult amid the increased instability.<\/p>\n
Israel and the Unites States\u2019 joint attack on Iran over its nuclear weapons program has plunged the region into chaos, with Tehran retaliating by bombing countries previously considered safe in a campaign to target U.S. military bases. Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have all been hit by missiles in recent days.<\/p>\n
Many countries in the region have already ordered their universities to close their doors and shift to online learning until further notice following the air strikes, and staff and students have been caught up in the chaos. <\/p>\n
But experts have warned that the conflict may also bring far more severe longer-term consequences for the region\u2019s higher education sector, which has become increasingly important to Gulf states as they look to diversify away from oil and seek to take a leading role on the world higher education stage. Qatar and Abu Dhabi have become major hubs for Western universities looking to expand into the Middle East in recent years.<\/p>\n
Maia Chankseliani, professor of comparative and international education at the University of Oxford, said regional escalation is \u201calready raising the cost and complexity of internationalization for Gulf universities,\u201d and it will prompt some partners \u201cto pause new campus commitments, intensify risk planning and make the higher education ambitions embedded in\u00a0\u2026 national strategies more difficult to deliver on current timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n
There will be \u201cfinancial and reputational\u201d repercussions that \u201coutlast the immediate crisis,\u201d added Chankseliani, as in recent decades the Gulf states have \u201cpositioned themselves deliberately as a serious site for higher education expansion, attracting branch campuses, research partnerships and internationally mobile students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Education City in Doha alone hosts several major international universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Northwestern, Weill Cornell and HEC Paris, and New York University and Sorbonne University have campuses in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese partnerships depend on long-term horizons, predictable regulatory environments and a widely shared perception of stability. While the institutions already substantially committed in the region will proceed, many institutions in earlier planning phases might slow negotiations, revisit assumptions and seek much stronger contractual protections around force majeure and staff and student safety before committing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Mayssoun Sukarieh, senior lecturer in the department of international development at King\u2019s College London, said the extent of the impact depends on how long the conflict lasts. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it concludes soon, without major costs to Gulf economies and without affecting regional stability, then I do not expect significant consequences for U.K. and U.S. campuses operating in the Gulf,\u201d she said. \u201cOn the other hand, if the war is prolonged and leads to instability in the region\u2014potentially including instability in Iran\u2014this could have serious consequences for the U.K. and U.S. higher education industry in the Gulf states.\u201d<\/p>\n
Institutions operating in Doha have relied \u201cheavily on state support\u201d and on lucrative state-funded scholarships that have attracted students from across the Arab world, she said, adding that economic instability caused by the conflict could \u201caccelerate structural changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think universities will only rethink when the endeavor is not ludicrous for them; after all, we know that the higher education sector is in crisis, and the only reason to stop expanding to the Gulf or to halt their activities there would be profit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vincenzo Raimo, an international higher education consultant, said that in previous episodes of disruption, the region has \u201creverted to business as usual very quickly once escalation pauses\u201d and that institutions have shown they can \u201cpivot very quickly, reassuring students and staff, shifting teaching online, and activating duty-of-care protocols.\u201d <\/p>\n
But he said for universities considering new commitments, including branch campuses, joint ventures and major capital projects, any conflict will mean \u201cgreater board-level scrutiny, with leaders and governors seeking firmer assurance on scenario planning, duty of care for staff and students, and the implications for insurance, security costs and reputation if perceptions of safety deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even where projects proceed, Raimo added, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to \u201csee longer timelines with added safeguards and clearer break clauses written into agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, professor in global thought and comparative philosophies at SOAS University of London, said it was \u201cinevitable\u201d that there will be serious short- to middle-term repercussions for the higher education sector, adding that a potential war could make parents \u201cthink twice\u201d about sending their children to the region, and it would become \u201crather more difficult\u201d to recruit world-renowned scholars.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is no successful effort to establish a viable security architecture that is strong enough to prevent war, the insecurity thus ensued will make it that much more difficult to establish an internationally viable higher education infrastructure,\u201d said Adib-Moghaddam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The outbreak of fighting across the Middle East could prompt universities to rethink expansion plans in the area, with attracting staff and students likely to become ever more difficult amid the increased instability. Israel and the Unites States\u2019 joint attack on Iran over its nuclear weapons program has plunged the region into chaos, with Tehran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[13451,4320,187,898,5742,897,480],"class_list":{"0":"post-46083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-branch","9":"tag-campus","10":"tag-crisis","11":"tag-east","12":"tag-halt","13":"tag-middle","14":"tag-plans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}