15 – 18 September
Damascus University
2025 Syrian Academic Forum
Main Program
Opening
Keynote
Rebuilding higher education systems: Autonomy, Integrity, and Modernization.
Academic freedom, sectoral autonomy, corruption, and governance.
Panel/Workshop
Governance and Institutional Efficiency.
Governance, bureaucracy, autonomy, and transparency.
Break
Panel/Workshop
Designing equitable and transparent admission & Infrastructure systems.
Admission (mofadaleh), infrastructure gaps, equity, and digital systems.
Keynote
Aligning HE with national development and labor market needs.
Graduate skills, employability, and Program outcomes relevance.
Panel/Workshop
Disciplinary relevance and societal impact.
Marginalised disciplines, specialization gaps, and national priorities.
Break
Panel/Workshop
Students and faculty as agents of societal transformation.
Student engagement, civic life, and faculty roles in society.
AI potentials for Syrian Education System
Afternoon Session
Organizer: Dr-Ing. Nidal Zarifeh (Syrian Assembly in Germany)
(Main contributor: The Syrian Association for Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship “aisyria”)
Duration: 4 hours (including 15 min break)
Objective: Explore the potentials of AI for enhancing Syrian academia
Description and aspects:
- Foundation of AI aspects
- integrated into higher education
- international examples of AI integration into higher education
- Current academic situation in Syria
- Challenges and cautions of using AI in education
- Tailored guidelines for professors: enhance curriculum design, generate and evaluate exam questions, streamline grading, and other innovative applications in academic settings
- Tailored guidelines for students: support academic life, study assistance, summarization, translation, and research facilitation
Speakers:
- Ing Nidal Zarifeh (60+15 min)
- aisyria (120+30 min)
Keynote
Building a research ecosystem for national resilience and global impact.
Integration of research, innovation culture, national development.
Panel/Workshop
Barriers and bridges to research productivity.
Mentorship, research funding, collaborative research, research structures.
Break
Panel/Workshop
Designing a national strategy for science and innovation.
Transdisciplinary research, policy, national strategy, innovation priorities.
Keynote
Connecting locally, engaging globally.
Academic diaspora, international networks, regional partnerships.
Panel/Workshop
Cross-border and diaspora collaboration.
Internal collaboration, regional cooperation, diaspora engagement.
Break
Panel/Workshop
Internationalization strategy design lab.
Mobility, joint degrees, international strategy frameworks.
Networking
Participant Registration
Opening Session
Speech by the Minister of Higher Education
Speech by the Minister of Agriculture
Speech by the Chairman of the Initiative
Break
First Session
Session Chair: Dr. Ahmed Fares Asfari, Session Rapporteur: Dr. Ahmed Shams El-Din Shaaban
First Session
10:30 – 11:00
The State of Agricultural Education
Dean of the College of Agricultural Engineering
11:00 – 11:30
The State of the Agricultural Sector
Dr. Mohammed Manhal Al-Zoubi
11:30 – 12:00
Linking Graduates to the Labor Market
Eng. Abdul Aziz Al-Mohammed
12:00 – 12:30
Break
Second Session
Session Chair: Dr. Saad Al-Kayali, Session Rapporteur: Dr. Ahed Abu Younes
Second Session
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Dialogue Session
Attendance
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Recommendations
Recommendations Drafting Committee
Lunch Break
Keynote
Repositioning the faculty: conditions, capacities, and identity.
Faculty roles, compensation, working conditions.
Panel/Workshop
Faculty development and academic work in transition.
Capacity building, evolving academic responsibilities.
Break
Panel/Workshop
Designing faculty support systems.
Support programs, professional development, fair workload.
Keynote
From passive learning to critical engagement: reimagining pedagogy.
Critical pedagogies, curriculum reform, student-centered learning.
Panel/Workshop
Curriculum relevance and the role of assessment.
Assessment practices, curriculum responsiveness, learning outcomes.
Break
Panel/Workshop
Embedding critical pedagogy in teaching practice.
Active learning, inclusive teaching.
Networking and Dinner
Digital Twin for institutional & industrial applications
Morning Session
Organizer: Dr-Ing. Nidal Zarifeh (Syrian Assembly in Germany)
Duration: 3.5 hours (including 15 min break)
Objective: Exploring the benefits of virtual representation of physical entities in different areas (education, industry, energy, infrastructure, healthcare)
Description and aspects:
- Foundation of digital twin
- From IoT to IoS to digital twin
- Main technologies and protocols
- Sensing principles, data modeling, and semantic mapping
- Joint communication and sensing
- Distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS)
Speakers:
- Nidal Zarifeh (60 min)
- Ing. Ali Allousch (120 min, Online)
- Talk 3: to be added
Organizers
