“I have never expected to see the classrooms at my university this beautiful. I feel motivated to study and learn new things since there is a suitable environment for that,” said Ahlem Romdhan, a student at the English department of Sebha University.

Together with her colleagues, Ahlem attends lectures and sits her exams in the rehabilitated English labs.

“In the past, during examination periods we had to put chairs and tables in the corridors since there were not enough room for all the English department’s students,” Ahlem pointed out. “This made it difficult for most of the students to focus on their exams because there was too much noise in the corridors as people moved around the building,” she added.

First step towards improving the quality of education in Sebha

Led by national and municipal Libyan institutions and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Stabilization Facility for Libya (SFL) rehabilitated two laboratories of the English department at Sebha university and fixed doors and windows of three others.

The Facility, which recently relaunched as SFL—Stronger for Libya, aims to enhance the capacities of local and national institutions to deliver services to citizens. It gives an effective voice to women and youth and ensures that local strategies contribute to a more stable Libya.

 “The work that the SFL did in our university is a first step towards improving the quality of education in Sebha,” said Aya Miled Mohammed, a university student. “I am happy because we now have the opportunity to study in spacious rooms and organize workshops and cultural activities as part of our study programme,” she added.

Due to the earlier shortage of labs Aya graduated without being able to take all her compulsory courses, but she is glad that the new students will have an opportunity that she didn’t. “Those students are lucky because they will not only be able to study in a comfortable environment but also to finish all the required courses in their programme,” she explained.

The English department at Sebha University is the biggest within the college. In 2017, it hosted more than 780 students coming from 14 different municipalities located in South Libya.

“The rehabilitation of the English labs did not only allow students to study in an adequate space, but also provided teachers with the possibility to finish the study programmes as scheduled,” said Hana Ibrahim, an English language teacher at Sebha University’s English Department. “Before the rehabilitation of the English labs we had to decrease lecture lengths to give the opportunity to all the students to attend classes,” she added.