By: Mustafa Karahamad and Dr. Yamen Alsalka
The Syrian Academic Compass (SAC) project aims to empower Syrian academics in Syria and abroad.
We want to help recent graduates from Syrian universities navigate their academic and career paths outside of Syria, if they are interested in working or continuing their academic careers abroad.
This report focuses on graduates from Syrian universities, who have graduated from one of the languages departments. If you want to replicate the same case study in other fields, please contact the project’s Scrum Master Mustafa Karahamad, or send an email to the Society’s email address: info@ds-fg.com.
If you are a graduate of one of the language departments and want to add your story to the ones we are reporting, it is not too late, we will re-analyze the data collected regularly. please find the survey at the following link.
Please note that DSFG will collect your data in the survey only for the SAC project and will not use or share it for any other purpose. Personal details are optional.
The latest update of the data collected: 08.03.2025
Next update: End of September 2025
Introduction to the results of the applied science departments report
This report is the outcome of the case study conducted by the Syrian Academic Compass project’s volunteering researchers. Utilizing descriptive research methods, particularly surveys designed on Google Form, which is a research method focused on describing the features, behaviors, or conditions of a specific target group. The case study aims to answer the following research question:
How do applied science graduates from Syrian universities pursue their academic and career paths after migrating outside Syria?
The case study doesn’t aim to test hypotheses, make predictions, or claim generalizations over the target group; but rather to capture a snapshot of the group’s responses or characteristics. The societal aim marks the relevance of the case study in accordance with the project’s aims described above, namely helping recent graduates from Syria better navigate their academic and career landscape outside, from the lenses of other graduates.
The aim of this case study was to survey bachelor graduates from any applied science departments such as (Applicable Chemistry, Pure Chemistry, Biochemistry, Plant Biology, Microbiology, Plant Biology – Biochemistry – Animal Biology) from any Syrian university who have pursued their careers outside Syria, mainly in Europe, Asia and North America.
The majority of respondents (73%) had a bachelor’s degree in applied chemistry, while the second most common (7%) had a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. Holders of a BSc in Animal Biology accounted for 5%.
Almost 72% of the respondents graduated after 2009, the rest respondents in the survey graduated between 2001 and 2009 (28%). The majority of respondents (83%) graduated from Damascus University. Bachelor’s degrees from the formerly called “Al-Baath” University were 7% and from Aleppo University 5%.
Almost 83% of respondents migrated outside Syria between 2011 and 2023. However, there were two peaks in migration, the first between 2014 and 2017 (47%) and the second between 2021 and 2022 (12%). The majority of Syrian academics surveyed now lived in Germany (52%), the United Arab Emirates (12%), Canada (7%), Egypt and Turkey (5% each). The majority of Syrian academics with a BSc in Applied Chemistry (the most statistically representative sample) lived in Germany by the time of filling out the survey (47%), the United Arab Emirates (16%), Egypt and Turkey (7% each).
Around 62% of respondents migrated outside Syria only once, while around 30% migrated twice.
The report will present the results of the survey in two phases, following the logic of the survey.
First Phase: In Syria
Some 77% of respondents had only completed a Bachelor’s degree in Syria, while almost 20% had completed a master’s degree (MSc) in Syria before migrating. However, 5% of Syrian academics who studied applied chemistry completed a PhD in Syria before migrating.
Those who took an MSc in Syria majored in a variety of fields, but the most common were (1) chemistry, (2) Diploma of Educational Qualification, and (3) pharmacy. Other fields were less common but equally represented: MBA; Environmental Science; Animal Life Science; Biotechnology.
When asked whether respondents had any work experience in Syria before migrating, 31% said they had no work experience before migrating. Around 48% of the respondents had more than one year of work experience in Syria (most of them more than one year and less than three years), while 12% of them had less than one year of work experience in Syria.
Second Phase: In destination country
Migration:
The majority of respondents migrated out of Syria between 2014 and 2017, with a peak in 2015. While 61% migrated once after leaving Syria, 30% migrated twice and around 8% reported to have migrated more than twice.
Most respondents were living in Europe at the time of filling out the survey, with around 49% of whom said they were living in Germany. Others lived in UAE (11%), Canada (6%), and Turkey (5%).
Recognition:
58% of total respondents got their bachelor’s degree recognised by the authorities in the country of destination. 18% did not, while another 23% reported that the recognition was not necessary. Of those who got their degrees recognised, 68% received full recognition; another 8% reported that their degrees were partially recognised.
Focusing on graduates of applied chemistry from Syrian university, as the most represented group in this survey (75%), the percentage of graduates who got their bachelor’s degree recognised is relatively the same 59% of total respondents. However, the likelihood to receive a full recognition was clearly higher among graduates of applied chemistry. Around 95% of those who applied for recognition, received full recognition of their degrees.
Foreign Languages (English, German, French, etc):
Knowledge of foreign languages was an obstacle to starting a career/study program in the country of immigration for almost 75% of the respondents. 28% of which said that they had to attend a couple of language courses after migration; another 28% had to take a language exam (such as toefl) after migration.
Further Studies:
Around 43% completed a masters degree in the country of migration, while 28% said they also completed a PhD. Other respondents completed a vocational training course (5%) or a professional course (Weiterbildung) (8%).Only 15% of respondents said that they completed no further studies in the country of migration.
The range of study programs of those who completed a study program outside of Syria was relatively wide. Around 31% studied chemistry in the country of migration; other equally represented disciplines were Nanotechnology (8%), Biology (6%), and 5% for each of the following disciplines: Biochemistry, Environmental Science, Biotechnology,
and Material Science and Catalysis. Around 10% of respondents went interdisciplinary in their higher education abroad and pursued an MBA, learned graphic design, or specialized in data science.
Only 30% of respondents of Syrian graduates from the applied science departments have been active in taking online courses to improve their skills; 23% of respondents took more than three online courses.
50% of respondents said that they received no support in the country where they live. However 23% received a scholarship from an institute in the country where they live, while only 3% received a scholarship from Syria.
Work Experience:
The majority of the respondents, 63%, said that they were working full-time by the time of filling out the survey; others said they were working part-time or freelancing, mostly next to doing a PhD or an MA degree.
Only 31% said that work experience in Syria played a major role in their career in the destination country, while almost 41% said their work experience in Syria was not relevant; the rest 26% did not have any work experience in Syria.
Most respondents (30%) said they were working in the private sector at the time of filling out the survey, either in large companies with more than 50 employees or in companies with less than 50 employees, but more likely in large companies. Other types of employment represented among respondents were: working in educational institutions (16%) and universities/research (18); while around 11% had their own business. Only 8% worked in public sector or consultation centers.
The most common working field was academic research (25%), while the second most represented was the R&D industrial sector (21%). Project coordination and laboratory management were also represented with 15% for each among participants. While laboratory technician, quality officer and consultant occupied 13% for each. Other less frequent working fields included working in teaching, team management and sales. It is possible that a respondent has worked in more than one field in their career.
63% of all respondents experienced less than 6 months of unemployment after migrating. This is exceptional, especially when considering that 24% of respondents directly found a job after finishing their academic studies or language courses.
Relevance of the Bachelor Degree from Syria:
Completing a bachelor’s degree in Syria helped the majority (76%) of respondents to work or study in their destination country after migration, regardless of the relationship between the field of work or study and the field of graduation.
Only 16% of respondents said they were working or studying in the country where they are living because they have a bachelor’s degree in general (interdisciplinary path), while 61% said they are working or studying because of having a bachelor’s degree particularly in their field of study (disciplinary path).
Conclusion:
- The report presents the results of a case study to explore how graduates of applied science departments (mostly applied chemistry) from Syrian universities pursue their academic and career paths after migrating outside Syria.
- The majority of respondents (77%) have only completed a BA in Syria, while 20% completed an MA before migrating outside of Syria.
- Around 50% of respondents had more than one year of work experience before migrating.
- The survey indicates that while a BA from Syria has a tangible impact on post-migration pathways, particularly in the professional pathways, work experience in Syria only helped 31% of respondents in their paths after migrating.
- Working abroad was the route taken by the majority of respondents (63%). Postgraduate study was also a step that 49% of respondents took by completing an MA abroad, while 28% of all respondents also completed a PhD abroad.
- Recognition of the BA was essentially required for the respondents in the countries of migration. 58% of total respondents got their bachelor’s degree recognised by the authorities in the country of destination. while another 23% reported that the recognition was not necessary. Of those who got their degrees recognised, 68% received full recognition; another 8% reported that their degrees were partially recognised.
- 61% of the respondents pursued work/study paths in their fields of study, while 16% pursued interdisciplinary paths in other career/study choices. Still, having a BA was central for almost 76% to succeed abroad. .
- The survey shows that the private sector and research institutes are the most common places of work for respondents.
- 24% of respondents reported directly working/studying after migrating, while 63% were able to start studying or working within one year after migration.
- Half of the respondents received no financial and/or advisory support from different organizations after migration. 23% received scholarships from institutes in the country of destination.