ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syria’s higher education ministry has begun steps to merge a university previously run by the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) into a state institution, Syrian state media reported on Tuesday, as part of broader efforts to integrate the region’s civil structures into Damascus’ authority.
According to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, Higher Education Minister Marwan al-Halabi announced during a visit to the Al-Furat University branch in Raqqa province that a ministerial committee had been formed to oversee the merger of Al-Sharq University into the Al-Furat University campus there.
Al-Sharq University was established by the Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES), which has governed much of northeast Syria since the early years of the civil war, in 2021. Al-Furat is under Damascus and its main branch is in Deir ez-Zor province.
Al-Furat University has 11 faculties in Deir ez-Zor province, eight in Hasaka and six in Raqqa, according to its website.
Halabi said the committee would complete the administrative procedures for the merger while “ensuring the preservation of the rights of all students,” SANA reported.
The move comes amid the ongoing implementation of agreements aimed at integrating Kurdish-run civil and military institutions into the Syrian state. These efforts followed a January 29 deal between Kurdish-led forces and Damascus that ended weeks of fighting with the Syrian Arab Army, which had advanced into several previously Kurdish-held areas alongside affiliated armed groups, including Raqqa.
According to SANA, Halabi said that restoring higher education institutions to their “full role” in the Jazira region was a “national priority” and stressed the ministry’s commitment to staffing and supporting the Al-Furat University branch to ensure academic stability.
The Jazira region covers areas east of the Euphrates River, including large parts of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hasaka provinces.
He also said certificates issued by Al-Sharq University in previous years would be accredited under existing legal frameworks, in a way that safeguards students’ academic records.
SANA also reported that the ministry is studying the possible establishment of an independent university in Raqqa as part of a revised national education plan to strengthen higher education in eastern Syria.
Since 2011, Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria have implemented a separate curriculum, replacing the state’s Baathist-era syllabus and introducing Kurdish as a language of instruction.
Following a March 10 agreement between interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi, Damascus and the Kurdish administration reached a deal in June allowing students to sit national exams and receive government-recognized certificates.