A new curriculum for a new nation

History at Cardiff University is working with university departments across South Sudan to re-design history programmes after the new nation’s civil wars.

Supported by the Higher Education Funding Council Wales, the project will model a new History curriculum for the world’s newest country.

Since independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan’s universities are still struggling to rework decades-old humanities programmes that centre the violent colonial conquest of South Sudan and replicate outdated  ideas.

Cardiff University’s Dr Nicki Kindersley and Juba University’s Professor Yosa Wawa are leading on the project, bringing together historians from Cardiff and the five public universities in South Sudan.

South Sudan’s civil war over 2013-2018 has further disrupted higher education in the country and created deep and painful divisions between ethnic groups and regions. Most of South Sudan’s History graduates go on to work as teachers and aid workers across South Sudan within extreme conflicts and humanitarian crises.

Professor Yosa Wawa welcomed the award and partnership:

‘This will be a new curriculum for a new nation with new opportunities. We hope that our students will contribute to peaceful co-existence through an updated and challenging South Sudanese curriculum.’

Senior Lecturer in African History Dr Nicki Kindersley added:

“I’m excited to work with long-term colleagues and friends at the University of Juba to help design their innovative and creative new curriculum. Our History Department at Cardiff University has recently redesigned our syllabus, and I’m looking forward to sharing experience and ideas."

Building on collaboration over the last ten years, the project will develop the new history curriculum over the next two months thanks to funding from Higher Education Funding Council Wales, with rollout anticipated in the next academic year over 2024-25.