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🛒 تسوق الآنUniversity of Benghazi Rises from Rubble: 70,000 Students Dream Again
University of Benghazi Rises from Rubble: 70,000 Students Dream Again
A Decade of War Destroyed 90% of Campus
Benghazi, Libya — Nearly 700 years of academic heritage nearly vanished between 2014 and 2016 when jihadist groups turned the University of Benghazi — Libya's oldest and largest university, founded in 1955 — into a war zone. About 90 percent of the campus was destroyed. Fighters planted artisanal mines across the grounds, and irreplaceable manuscripts dating back seven centuries were looted before being painstakingly recovered by university staff.
Yet the university never closed. Former president Ezzedin Younis Eddressi revealed that classes continued throughout the occupation, held in schools across Benghazi — children attended in the morning, university students in the afternoon. "The university is life itself," Eddressi said. "In every household there's a student, a professor or a university employee."
Key Facts: The Road to Recovery
- Founded in 1955: The University of Benghazi is Libya's oldest and largest higher education institution, serving nearly 70,000 students.
- 90% destruction: Jihadists who controlled Benghazi between 2014 and 2016 destroyed nearly the entire campus, including historical manuscripts dating back 700 years.
- Never closed: Even during the worst years of occupation, classes moved to city schools — children in the morning, university students in the afternoon.
- New campus incoming: A brand-new vast campus is set to open in autumn 2026, marking a major milestone in the university's recovery.
- Security restored: After jihadist forces were defeated by Khalifa Haftar's forces, students gradually returned to temporary facilities on campus.
Students Speak: "We Have Security and Can Finally Live"
The human cost of the university's devastation echoes across a generation of Libyan young people. Maryam Alrefadi, 26, graduated last year and now teaches French online from Benghazi. "What we went through was not easy. We had no idea how we would make it through," she recalled. Today, her outlook is strikingly different: "Now we have security and are able to do anything — from travelling to starting our own projects and businesses."
On a recent afternoon, students gathered in the cafeteria and on shaded benches, pouring over textbooks and chatting — a scene of normalcy that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Why This Matters for All of Libya
The University of Benghazi is more than an institution — it is the academic heart of eastern Libya and a symbol of resilience for a country that has struggled since the 2011 uprisings toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Libya remains divided between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration backed by Haftar. In this fractured landscape, the university's recovery signals something larger: the possibility of normalcy returning to a nation scarred by over a decade of conflict.
For Benghazi's one million residents, the university's revival touches nearly every family. The opening of the new campus this autumn will represent not just rebuilt infrastructure, but the restoration of opportunity for tens of thousands of young Libyans who refused to let war end their education.
A Campus Reborn — And a Generation Refusing to Give Up
The nearly 70,000 students who attend classes in temporary facilities today are living proof that education is the last thing a society surrenders. When the new campus opens this autumn, it will carry the weight of seven centuries of manuscripts, two decades of resistance, and the dreams of a generation that studied through war. For Libya, the University of Benghazi's recovery is not just a rebuilding story — it is a declaration that the future is still being written.
— LibyaPress / Tech Desk
