The University of Khartoum is facing a severe staffing and student crisis, with 71% of its lecturers, half of its engineering students and 42% of its medical students currently outside Sudan, according to a report prepared by the university’s faculty union.
The report, compiled by a committee formed to examine how the university can maintain its academic operations, painted a bleak picture of conditions following a decision by the army-led authorities and the Ministry of Higher Education to close overseas study centres and require students to attend classes and examinations in person at university campuses.
The committee said a survey conducted in June found that 71% of faculty union members were outside Sudan.
It also reported large numbers of students failing to attend recently organised in-person examinations in Khartoum despite having registered to sit them.
The committee recommended reopening the university’s external centres to serve both students and academic staff, arguing that the facilities could also provide an additional source of revenue for the university.
Figures submitted by the Faculty of Medicine Students’ Association, based on an August 2026 survey, showed that 42% of medical students were living outside Sudan.
A separate survey by the Faculty of Engineering Students’ Association found that 50% of engineering students were abroad as refugees.
Among engineering students still inside Sudan, 27% were living outside Khartoum, while 74.7% of all students surveyed said they had no accommodation available in the capital.
The survey also found that 57% of engineering students could not afford the costs associated with travelling to Khartoum.
The report highlighted a sharp decline in student enrolment since the outbreak of the war.
Before the conflict, enrolment at the Faculty of Pharmacy stood at around 90% of available places. That figure has fallen to 46% for the delayed 2023 intake and 41% for the delayed 2024 intake.
At the Faculty of Education, the combined number of students admitted in two post-war cohorts was roughly equivalent to a single intake before the conflict, while a number of students have abandoned their studies altogether.
The report also documented extensive destruction to university infrastructure.
Faculty housing in Khartoum’s Airport neighbourhood was completely destroyed, while the northern section of the Faculty of Pharmacy’s old building suffered major structural damage.
The Faculty of Science lost 12 laboratories, including seven that were completely destroyed.
Two examination halls and the Professor Abdullah Al-Tayeb Hall were also destroyed, while the university’s electronic records system was lost.
The report was prepared by a 12-member committee headed by Dr Manal Al-Sayed Abdelrahman, with Professor Ali Abdelrahman Rabah serving as deputy chair, and was submitted to the University of Khartoum faculty union.
The findings were reported by Sudan’s December newspaper.
