Syria's New Admission Rules Bar Women From Defense and Security Courses, Drawing Criticism

Changes to university admissions in Syria are forcing some women to rethink their academic plans. Lin Najab, a 23-year-old from Damascus, is one of the few women studying mechatronics engineering at her college. She had hoped to earn a master's degree, but she now says she must consider other options, including moving to another province.

Earlier in October, Syria's education ministry announced rules for two newly created institutions: the National University of Defense Sciences and the Syrian University for Security Sciences. The first now reserves certain courses for men only, while the second closes almost all of its courses to women. Women can still study the same subjects, but only at more general universities or colleges.

Najab said relocating brings its own problems. Dormitory life is uncomfortable, and a woman living alone is still frowned upon by conservative Syrians. She added that parents often object to daughters studying elsewhere, whether over security worries or simple preference. "Gender doesn't define ability," she said, arguing that places should go to the best candidates regardless of gender.

Opinion inside the country is divided. Fatoun Kharbatli, an activist from Aleppo, opposes limiting subjects to one gender and said people should choose the field where they see their abilities. Qamar al-Yaser, a mother of three in rural Damascus, supports the ban. She said the affected sectors demand a strong physique, travel, fieldwork and sometimes overnight stays at remote sites, conditions she said suit young men better.

Some of the rules may be aimed at keeping women out of the army rather than out of particular subjects. Students at the defense university must serve in the Syrian military, and graduates of the security university must commit to up to 20 years with the internal security forces.

Human Rights Watch criticized the move days after it was announced. The group said the rules clearly violate Syria's international legal obligations and form part of a worrying pattern by the transitional authorities of limiting women's roles in state institutions and reinforcing gender stereotypes.

The restrictions go beyond the military colleges. Women face limits at a railways institute in Aleppo, at oil and gas training bodies in Rmeilan, Homs, Deir el-Zour and Baniyas, and on a radio and television course in Idlib. Men, meanwhile, were barred from kindergarten teaching, nursing and midwifery training, which are now women-only. Journalists also noticed changes to school textbooks for the 2026-2027 year: images of women with uncovered hair were removed or altered to show headscarves, a bare-chested statue was given a vest, and a picture of men dancing was dropped.

Officials have said some of the exclusions were inherited from Assad-era colleges that were merged to form the new institutes earlier this year. Resistance to women in the military is also not unusual in conservative parts of the Middle East. A 2024 study by the Middle East Institute found that many Arab countries admit women to military colleges but often confine them to non-combat or symbolic roles. A 2026 policy paper from the Syrian Center for Defense and Security Studies described women's past role in Syria's security services as limited and largely symbolic.

Rights advocates say that a widespread view does not make it right. Dina Arakji, author of the MEI study, argued that allowing women to join the military can change how society views women in nontraditional roles. Activist Rana al-Ash wrote that admission rules send young women a message about what they can do, making family and social pressure harder to resist. Nadra Bunni, an analyst at the Middle East Institute Switzerland, said it is unclear whether gender-based restrictions will become a lasting feature of the new Syria, and asked whether the authorities will accept that their decisions can be questioned and possibly reversed.