Supporting and learning from universities in times of conflict: towards resilience and resistance in higher education

Introducing the special issue on ‘Supporting and Learning from Universities in Times of Conflict’, this article examines the significance of the university as a social, political, and epistemic space in contexts of conflict and post-conflict recovery. It highlights the ongoing neglect of universities in times of conflict, war, and oppression across the fields of international development, international higher education, Education in Emergencies, and even the emerging sub-field of Higher Education in Emergencies. This neglect not only renders invisible the immense losses and extraordinary resilience of universities facing extreme adversity, but also contributes to silencing their internal struggles, calls for support, and long-term efforts to recover and rebuild, over years and sometimes decades. Drawing on discussions at the 2023 PEER Network symposium and contributions from over forty authors across diverse contexts, the article identifies new directions and questions for the growing field of higher education and conflict. By centring affected academic communities as active producers of knowledge and agents of change, it argues that learning from universities in times of conflict offers vital lessons for all contexts of higher education amid rising authoritarianism across the globe. In doing so it positions universities as essential spaces of resilience, resistance, and hope.