Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 180 of 2026 on Sunday, October 4, granting additional opportunities to students who have exhausted their permitted attempts at universities and institutes, including postgraduate students, open education students, and private university students, during the 2026-2027 academic year.
The decree grants undergraduate students who exhausted their permitted failure attempts between the 2010-2011 and 2025-2026 academic years an exceptional academic year, whether or not they had previously benefited from a similar decree.
The decree also covers students admitted under Article 103 of the executive regulations of the Universities Regulation Law who have exhausted their permitted failure attempts.
Preparatory-Year Students Excluded
The decree excludes preparatory-year students in medical faculties who have exhausted their permitted failure attempts. The general rules currently in force will continue to apply to them.
The decree also grants students enrolled in qualification and specialization programs who exhausted their opportunities to sit examinations as external students between the 2010-2011 and 2025-2026 academic years an exceptional academic year in 2026-2027.
Additional Opportunities for Postgraduate Students
The decree covers postgraduate students in the coursework stage who exhausted their permitted examination attempts during the specified period, granting them an exceptional academic year in 2026-2027.
It also covers master’s students who completed their coursework but exhausted the permitted period for registering for the thesis stage, granting them an exceptional academic year during the same period.
Under Article 6, the decree grants master’s and doctoral students in the thesis stage who were dismissed from their degree programs between September 15, 2010, and the date the decree was issued an additional opportunity. They are granted one calendar year from the date of registration, provided they re-register during the 2026-2027 academic year.
Cases involving students dismissed for disciplinary reasons will be reviewed separately by the relevant committees, which may reject a student’s application or reinstate their enrollment depending on the reasons for dismissal.
Private Universities and Open Education Included
The decree applies to students at higher institutes affiliated with universities and higher institutes affiliated with the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, as well as students at private universities and those enrolled in open education programs.
It also includes students at nursing schools affiliated with public universities and students at institutes supervised by the Higher Council for Technical Education at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research will issue the executive instructions for implementing the decree and determine the university fees required from students benefiting from its provisions.
Administrative Promotion Decree
The new decree comes about a month after al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 167 of 2026, which granted university students exceptional measures during the 2025-2026 academic year, including administrative promotion and allowing final-year students to sit a supplementary examination.
Under Decree No. 167, students were allowed to advance to a higher academic year if they had no more than eight outstanding courses from different years of study. For preparatory-year students, the maximum was set at six courses.
The decree also allowed final-year students with no more than eight outstanding courses following second-semester examinations to sit a supplementary examination to complete their graduation requirements.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research previously told Enab Baladi that the measures were intended to reduce lost academic time and accelerate students’ graduation while taking into account the particular requirements of certain specializations and established academic standards.