‘25% of Sudanese university lecturers work abroad’

On Thursday, the Ministry of Higher Education in Khartoum reported that at least 3,000 Sudanese university lecturers left the country this year.

Dr Mohamed Yousef of the University of Khartoum confirmed to Radio Dabanga that more than a quarter of the university professors emigrated in search for a better livelihood.

“It is a disaster for the higher education as the emigrants are highly qualified lecturers,” he said.

“The shortage of the lecturers has led to the closure of university departments and the cancellation of a number of courses. Scientific research and the post-graduate studies’ sector have been affected most. Many students are not able to find supervisors any more for their research.”

Yousef added that most of the staff still working at universities in Sudan lack competences and training, “which in turn affects the standards of students”.

Education level

Early December, the National Parliament's Education Commission called the education level in the country a “scandal”. They noted that the majority of masters and PhD students “copy-paste” from the internet. “University graduates exist who are not able to write three correct sentences”.

The MPs warned for further deterioration in educational levels in the country, stating that “education has become a privilege for the wealthy only, while millions of poor Sudanese children do not know to read and write”.