The Center of Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration studies at Yarmouk University participated in the Mediterranean Universities meeting within the activities of (UNIMED WEEK 2020), which sheds light on international, regional and local tensions and crises largely in the Middle East and North Africa.

As the Syrian crisis and immigration from Africa affected the region’s balance, instability and the global economic crisis, which alerted institutions of the higher education system such as Yarmouk University to work to constantly re-adapt the educational process and form strategies compatible with the current developments and changes in order to design flexible measures capable of adapting to scenarios. Constantly and rapidly changing.

The center’s participation with a group of international institutions was represented in a dialogue session entitled “The Changing Nature of the Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa: The Role of Academic Research and Cooperation in a Post-Corona Pandemic Scenario”, to highlight the role of universities through social, political and institutional work for the benefit of refugees and displaced persons in the Eastern regions. In the Middle and North Africa, enhancing mobility opportunities and working to support refugees, including students and researchers, enhancing opportunities for universities to communicate with companies and civil society institutions, and rethinking new policy instruments at the European Union level.

Dr. Anas Al-Subuh - Director of the Center - spoke about the problem of increasing social responsibility in the university system to meet the new challenges in Jordan, based on the experience of past years and the crisis of the Corona pandemic.

He also presented the most important challenges facing Jordan in the lack of funding from donors towards Jordan in dealing with the refugee crisis, as the percentage of funding reached 19% of the total amounts agreed upon within the 2018-2020 response plan for the Syrian crisis in Jordan, and in light of the spread of the Corona pandemic The burdens on Jordan have increased through its interest in refugees, just as citizens are in receiving the necessary health care, which constitutes a burden on the Jordanian budget.

Al-Sobh added, in his talk about how the European Union-funded RAISD project within the H2020 program contributes to how to reformulate strategies that include vulnerable groups and integrate them into the host community, in order to be able to discover and present strategies of interest and inclusion dedicated to this category.