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Yemen, high costs prevent students from studying Al Jisr Collective

This photo essay was produced by a member of Al Jisr Collective.

"I can't reconcile my work hours with my study hours,” Ahmed, a student at Taiz University, tells us. Ahmed works long hours to be able to pay his university tuition, he says, and he can't continue doing both anymore.

Students in Yemen face significant challenges, seemingly greater than those faced by students in other countries around the world. The war in Yemen, which started nearly eight years ago, destroyed much of the country's infrastructure, including university buildings, research centers and institutions that contribute to academic life.

The number of university students in Yemen decreases every year, according to Al-Mashhad.net, which is an independent news website. The percentage of decline this year, at Sana’a University, for example, is a 15 percent drop compared with the previous year. At Taiz University, the turnout rate this year did not exceed 65 percent compared to previous years, and the same situation is repeated at almost all Yemeni universities.

According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2020, among students who finished high school, only 48 percent joined a college or university in Yemen. The rest did not because of economic conditions, poverty and the inability to pay tuition

Ahmed traveled from his village to the city of Taiz in southern Yemen, to look for work and income to pay for his studies and to help his family. Tuition fees have skyrocketed, Ahmed says: "I feel like I'm fighting! I need to fight, so that I can pay for my studies. I work a lot, but I can't pay my expenses. Sometimes I have to miss a whole month from university."

Few students are studying through the government-sponsored funding system in Yemen universities, as most students must pay large sums by local standards to study in public universities. The costs may reach $2,000 per year in some specializations, which is a large amount in relation to the income level in Yemen, where more than half of the population lives below $3.20 a day. Average tuition fees in private universities range from $750 for humanities and administration to $1,550 for information technology and computer science to $1,800 for medical laboratories to $2,550 for pharmacy to $4,000 for dentistry.

A university professor, who asked not to be named, told us that university professors' salaries have dropped substantially, and there are universities that have stopped paying professors.

The Yemeni Student Initiative published a photo on Facebook of a professor working as a bus driver because his salary was not paid by the university where he works in Yemen. The professor had to leave his job at the university and start his new career as a driver, according to the Yemeni Student Initiative.

Ahmed says: "Tuition fees are rising, but the level of education is going down. My colleagues and I have had to enroll in training courses for information that we do not learn at the university, because of the lack of professors."

Because of the economic situation in the country, student scholarships are largely absent as are organizations that cover the costs of studying. Most students with low incomes drop out.

"I can't continue studying," says Nabiha, a female university student. “Even at the graduation ceremony we have to cover the costs.” The university has raised the cost of tuition at her university, and neither Nabiha nor her family will be able to cover the expenses anymore.

Al Jisr – The Bridge – is a collaboration among students and faculty from four public universities in Yemen and faculty and students at The University of Arizona. Students from University of Aden, Hadramout University, Taiz University, University of Saba Region and The University of Arizona are participating in this nine-month cultural exchange project that includes talking about media practices in Yemen and the U.S. Some student work is presented under the Al Jisr Collective name for the security and safety of those contributors.