University of Khartoum to resume studies this month

The Council of Deans of the University of Khartoum have decided to resume studies at all its faculties at the end of this month.

On Monday, in an extraordinary meeting chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof Fadwa Abdelrahman, the university’s Council of Deans agreed on the resumption of studies at all levels on Sunday, October 27.

Registration of new students will start the same day, and last for one month, the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported on Monday.

The Council of Deans further assigned the vice-chancellor to contact the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr Intisar Sagheroun, who is to instruct the National Fund for Student Welfare to prepare the boarding of the university’s students at its dormitories.

Suspended

The University of Khartoum decided to resume studies in end July, as the popular uprising calmed after the ruling junta and the opposition agreed on power-sharing. The campus had been closed since mid-December, when the first massive street protests against the regime of President Omar Al Bashir erupted.

The students however, rejected the resumption of the studies, and called for security, stability, rehabilitation, and more dormitories. They also demanded the withdrawal of police at the university, the dismantling of jihadist units at the campus, and restructuring of the university administration. In end August, the university was forced to suspend the studies again.

The University of Sennar, the University of West Kordofan, Bahri University in Khartoum North, the Holy Koran University in Omdurman, the University of Bakht El Rida in White Nile state, and El Nilein University in Khartoum suspended the studies in end July. The decisions came after students increasingly refused to resume their study. They said they would only return to the lectures when the general conditions in the country have improved.

Changes

In September, ‘jihadist units’, set up by student members of the National Congress Party headed by Al Bashir, were disbanded. More than 30 chancellors of state universities appointed during the former regime, resigned. The Ministry of Education had given them the choice between dismissal and resignation.

On October 3, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok appointed 34 new university presidents, after having dismissed 35 university rectors and four deputies.

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