Libya launches national strategy for higher education
Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) has launched the National Strategy for Higher Education and Scientific Research for 2025-2035, according to the Moroccan government-friendly outlet North Africa Post via Libya Observer on October 2nd.
The Tripoli-based, UN-supported government launched the strategy at the National Conference on Higher Education and Scientific Research held in Tripoli, which promises widespread reform of the sector based on enhanced international cooperation.
A key component of the strategy includes promoting international partnerships with major academic institutions, encouraging knowledge exchange and sharing of expertise as Libya seeks to steer its direction away from isolationism after constant instability following the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
This collaboration aims to strengthen research activities alongside international organisation, as well as leveraging grants from regional organisations.
Libya’s new Higher Education strategy emerged soon after the GNU launched a plan to tackle the pervasive issue of youth unemployment in Libya. That strategy focuses on aligning Libya’s education system with modern labour needs and values, creating a more coherent link between study and employment.
The government also unveiled a strategy which established more local PhD programmes, which has meant that some Libyan public universities and the Libyan Academy for Postgraduate Studies have begun to award their first doctoral degrees.
Improving Libya’s education system to meet the demands of the modern labour market is critical for Libya’s co-existing strategy of reducing youth unemployment and stimulating entrepreneurialism in the nation. Libya is keen to diversify its economy away from the hydrocarbons sector to stabilise economic growth.
Whilst instability plagues the country, the Libyan diaspora encompasses numerous Libyan academics abroad, and this new strategy aims to attract and utilise their expertise. Moreover, similar to the youth unemployment strategy, the strategy outlines the need to foster greater private investment.
Integrating digital elements into the Libyan education system is another pillar of the strategy, ensuring a comprehensive modernisation of a system that has suffered from years of political instability and ageing infrastructure.
North Africa Post via Libya Observer, Maghrebi.org, University World News
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