Housni Antar | Staff Writer
The AUB Campus is a combination of multiple interests and dreams. “Where Free Minds Flourish” is a point of uncertain attachment to the actual reality of things. There is no doubt that the interests and dreams which drive us as students to progress are quintessentially built on our perception of the future we expect. The times to comprehend and innovate are mostly connected to “Peace,” and yet, we still see “War” as the sole intervention in our procedures. A student’s career is their indirect academic purpose. It is the sole bearer of the application of knowledge and theoretical innovation. “War” is an intervention of the most extreme calibre, reshaping the values presented into that application of knowledge. The campus, bearing the scars of war, begs the question: “The War – is it a changer or an annihilator?”
The campus of the American University of Beirut welcomes students from all over the world. Countries such as Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon are the witnesses of multiple armed conflicts. Scholarships are given based on the needs of refugees from such wars and act as a chance for free flourishing. The MEPI & USAID Scholarships are one of those provided, or used to be provided, to foresee the “careers” of the future. As a student, “War” is a deflator of hopes, and a factory of uncertainty. To closely relate with our current times, the ongoing war on the southern border of Lebanon is a testimonial to the negative effect it holds on careers. A student would be forced to prioritize the primal need for safety due to actions of aggressiveness instead of planning a constructive ladder into the “flourishing” of their career. What is “free” is a matter of perception, and wars are a natural magnet to new views.
Apart from the above mentioned, we can also take into consideration that careers are built on networking & respective human capital. These two factors are negligible in the eyes of a student engaged or affected by the war. In that manner, the process of career pursuit becomes reduced to an unnecessary act. Financially, the non-scholarship students affected by the war become in need of direct financial assistance. This would result in a social division inside the student community, and external engagements.
Students often choose careers based on interest and skill set. While we’ve questioned how interests can shift or be deflected, skill sets are shaped by something deeper – often a memorable experience. In times of war, memory becomes a vessel for bad news and a system conditioned by false hopes. The resulting shift in focus is driven by heightened intensity, shaped by the weight of those experiences.
Change in the marketplace & demand is an undeniable result of war casualties. Certain major career opportunities might open up or become high in demand. Targeting future roles the fresh graduates can follow is tougher than under regular circumstances. War can oversaturate the market for jobs, and at the same time manipulate the requirements. Students relate their academic success to their possible future jobs. This has been the norm for the past 50 years; and even before that, academics were often a world independent of the workspace. Nowadays, the junction of both work & academics is the concept students adhere to. War is a factor which affects this junction in the two components it has. For that reason, students are more tempted to pass through multiple emotional states which affect their health, and decision systems. The amount of variables acting in the eyes of a student is numerous, and so the decision of a career job cannot be fully certain.
Policies are integrated into wars. The effect a war might have on a scholarship student is to be highlighted as well. Bright individuals from war-torn countries have the right to pursue their dreams in higher education, and so their funded scholarships become the sole sailing ship to that specific university. As policies & politics intervene, the funding pool shifts from one purpose to another. Those who were benefiting (from what?) suddenly find themselves in a desperate situation of an unknown future. Careers of students in that case will be neglected as well, due to multiple constraints. These constraints include urgency, uncertainty, and indecisiveness.
To conclude linearly, the effects of war aren’t built in an instant but proceed into the future. The same applies to the students seeking out the future of their careers and to the graduates searching for jobs. War is not a mere game changer, but a pillar of unforeseen destruction to the dreams of the young. For it to cloud the minds of the students is a point of unaccepted retaliation. That is why a call for awareness of the effects multiple students are facing. It is a must and a requirement for the prosperity of all nations alike.