The war in Sudan started on April 15, 2023 and has already caused the displacement of more than 14 million persons and the destruction or relocation of more than 120 higher education institutions. This article describes the experience of a university College in that country that had to carry out a forced digital transition to make the continuity of its academic activities possible in the midst of a civil war. The study presents the process Comboni College of Science and Technology followed to resume activities starting from the assessment of the feasibility of the operation with challenges such as the connectivity of students and lecturers to the internet, the financial limitations to pay academic fees, limited digital skills, psychological stress, the lack of a safe home and the mobility provoked by the evolvement of the conflict. In a second moment, the study assesses the satisfaction of the students with the learning experience and compares the results with those of a previous online period of study of the same institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of the limitations of the context and the fact that the students prefer the face-to-face learning experience to the online one, they express their satisfaction with the decision to continue studies via the Learning Management System as this way will allow them to complete their degree in the midst of the war. The study also reveals the importance of virtual tutoring to bridge the lack of digital skills and support the students in a very adverse context.

Sudan is today a country self-defined as Islamic (97% of the population) and Arab. In this context the schools of the Catholic Church have played and play a relevant role in the instruction of the elites of the country and in the provision of education to the displaced and refugee communities (3.58 million persons of concern of UNHCR in 2016). This article studies the development of these schools and their change of role along the following historical periods: the part of the Turco-Egyptian rule that corresponds with the foundation of the first Catholic Schools and the work of the great promotor of education in Sudan, Daniel Comboni (1843-1881); the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium which meant their expansion (1898-1956); and the Independent Sudan where they mainly focused on the service to displaced and refugees (1956-2017). The article describes this evolution and the current situation based upon the revision of published bibliography and unpublished materials from the archives of the Education Office of the Archdiocese of Khartoum and of the Comboni Missionaries in Sudan, especially for the most recent periods.

This article describes three online learning experiences carried out between 2017 and 2021 by Comboni College of Science and Technology, a Sudanese higher education institution in a context characterized by frequent power cuts, irregular and limited access to the internet, lack of preparedness of the teaching staff and very limited digital skills among students. These educational interventions consisted of two international cooperation projects and a learning experience through Moodle during the COVID-19 lockdown from where it was possible to collect data on students' performance and compare them with those obtained under ordinary conditions through a paired sample t-test. The research analyses these three online educational interventions, the context in which they took place and their posterior outcomes sometime later in the framework of the relation between higher education, human capital development and job insertion. The study reveals that in addition to the connectivity problems inherent to the context, some soft skills are supposed to be considered in the selection or training of the learners like time management and acquaintance with the use of an e-mail account. The research also reveals that any international e-learning project in Least Developed Country (LDC) should consider that most students do not own a personal laptop and access to the internet through their Smartphone. Moreover, students of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based university programs have a better predisposition than others for online programs. The study highlights the importance of computer literacy courses in the first semester of undergraduate programs for non-ICT related programs and of the presence of a physical tutor to ensure the success of any international educational project, even with students of ICT based university degrees, which may be particularly relevant once the war in progress stops and the field will be open for international cooperation in the educational field.

Catholic schools have multiplied since 1843 until now in Sudan, an Islamic majority country where Arab and African cultures intertwine in a particular way. The research aims at identifying the characteristics that define the identity and the concept of quality of these schools. With this purpose, the article reviews their history and the inspirational sources and cultural context that shaped the educational vision of the missionary who left an indelible imprint on these schools, Daniel Comboni. The research also includes the results of a questionnaire with a sample of fourteen of these schools located at Khartoum State. Catholic schools have not renounced their evangelising purpose, but have developed their identity in a dialogic way with the Islamic society that surrounds them around values like respect for diversity; commitment for the common good of the Sudanese society; and preferential option for marginalised people like displaced and refugee children.

The article deals with the relation between higher education and employment in Sudan. It evaluates the efficiency of a training project realized in collaboration between international and local private and government partners that aimed to provide university graduates with employment opportunities. The INSO Project (Innovation in society: training paths and human capital enhancement in Sudan) took place from 2017 to 2019. The research methodology consists of a questionnaire survey among the project participants to collect data on their employment achievements two years after their graduation and a series of interviews about their professional integration. The collected data are analyzed in the context of the Sudanese socio-economic and higher educational context and development. The study reveals a significant rate of employment for the graduates of this training project, its limits and the good use of specific training related to job search techniques.

Le università sudanesi affrontano la pandemia da COVID 19 in un contesto caratterizzato da frequenti interruzioni di corrente, accesso irregolare e limitato a internet, mancanza di preparazione dei docenti e scarse competenze digitali fra gli studenti. Questa ricerca si propone di valutare l’esperienza formativa degli studenti che hanno utilizzato la piattaforma Moodle durante il lockdown presso l’università sudanese Comboni College of Science and Technology a Khartum. I dati sono stati raccolti attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario e le informazioni del diario del docente di italiano, con il confronto tra i voti dei corsi di italiano del primo semestre, erogato in presenza, e il secondo semestre, a distanza su piattaforma Moodle. Lo studio conclude che un corso online attentamente costruito, ricco di risorse facilmente disponibili e su misura per soddisfare la scarsa connettività Internet, metodi di valutazione integrati e modalità di erogazione del corso adatte può garantire il rispetto degli obiettivi del corso e dei risultati di apprendimento. The challenge of distance learning in a Sudanese university: student evaluation and results in Italian language courses Sudanese higher education institutions faced the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in a context characterized by frequent power cuts, irregular and limited access to the internet, lack of preparedness of the teaching staff and very limited digital skills among students. This study aims to assess the learning experience of university students who used a Learning Management System (LMS), Moodle, during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic at Comboni College of Science and Technology in Khartoum. The data for the assessment were collected from a questionnaire distributed among the students, the diary of the lecturer of Italian and the comparison between the final marks of the courses of Italian Language, obtained in the first semester under ordinary conditions, and in the second semester, after the use of the LMS. The study concludes that a carefully constructed online course, rich in resources easily available and tailored to comply with scarce internet connectivity, integrated assessment methods and course delivery modes can guarantee compliance with the course objectives and learning outcomes.