Syrian officials by the dozen! Get’m while they’re hot!

Damascus University was established in 1903 as a medical school, and grew into a full university by 1923. With about 120,000 students, Dr. Wael Mua’lla, president of the University, is ready to open his arms to international students.

 

While most classes are taught in Arabic as required by law, some graduate level courses are joint-programs taught in both Arabic and English. 

Mua’lla believes that academic cooperation could be a model for other channels of diplomacy. He mentioned a U.S.-Syrian dialogue that happened earlier this month,

 

“Even during tough times in the U.S. administration, we managed to keep all these programs going,”

 

He hopes that during George Mitchell’s upcoming visit to Syria, he will stop by Damascus U. to give a lecture.

 

“Then he will see how serious Syria is about better relations.”

 

Mua’lla said that higher education is a large financial burden on the government. This is one motivation for establishing the alternative track to acceptance, which requires students to pay an inflated tuition. This money goes directly to the universities to pay for expanded services.

 

Within the last five years, there has been an influx of private universities to the country. While they are still gaining their footing, Mua’lla hopes that they will relieve some of the pressure about admission rates to the state-funded universities.

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