How to deliver university counselling in a war zone

On Thursday 13 April 2023, we held our leavers’ assembly at Khartoum International Community School. Then our 23 Year 13 students went home to prepare for their exams, due to start a fortnight later. Everyone else left to enjoy a lazy weekend as the final week of Ramadan began. We were all looking forward to the Eid break.

On the morning of Saturday 15 April, fighting broke out between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group, and the Sudanese army. Shelling and bombing reverberated all over the capital city as the airport, presidential palace and bridges were overrun by the RSF. 

For more than a week, families and staff took to shelters, before being evacuated by road or military plane. That was the beginning of the Khartoum War, which continues to this day.

University counselling: ruin, destruction and relocation

Since that time, our school has been closed. There’s no likelihood of reopening in the foreseeable future, given the ruin and destruction of the city. Our Sudanese students, who all fled the country, are mainly in Cairo and Dubai. International students have relocated all over the world.

Our International Baccalaureate coordinator swiftly contacted the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) and explained that exams would have to be cancelled. Fortunately for our Year 13 students, they were given the choice either to resit in November or to be given grades based on a combination of predicted grades, sent to the IBO in March, and coursework.

All but one of them chose to accept the designated grades, which they received on IB results day in July.

Khartoum International Community School had two college counsellors and we were in constant contact with the IB students by email and WhatsApp. We wrote to universities explaining the circumstances and hoping for some leniency because there were several students whose predicted grades were some way below their potential grade in the exams.

We were really happy to receive sympathetic and understanding responses from all the university admissions officers, and all our students ended up being happily placed.

Truncated courses

Our biggest concern was the Year 12 students, whose IB journey had been cut in half.

We stayed in close contact with them, advising them on recommended pathways, writing references for school applications in Cairo, Dubai, Rome and elsewhere, contacting admissions officers and reaching out to their new college counsellors.

We also wrote supplemental recommendations for their US college applications on the Common App, explaining the difficulties our students had faced. 

For Ucas references, we included the relevant information in questions two and three, dealing with preparation for the course and extenuating circumstances.

Since the war, we have set up as independent education consultants, working out of Dubai. We continue to support our Year 13 students in their new schools, free of charge, sending references to their new college counsellors and helping them with their college lists, college essays and personal statements.

University counselling in a war zone: lessons learnt

We learnt a number of lessons from this experience, which we think might be useful to others in situations of uncertainty.

• Prioritise student well-being. Reassure parents and students and have frequent check-ins.
• Keep track of where students and families relocate to. We did this via WhatsApp and email.
• Prepare transcripts as soon as possible through school administration. Families will be anxious to apply to new schools as soon as possible to secure places for their children. 

Year 13: immediate outreach

• We emailed Ucas and explained the situation to them. We also contacted admissions departments at students’ firm- and insurance-choice universities. 
• We emailed US universities. When doing this, always include students’ ID numbers and dates of birth.
• We updated the Common App to note the extenuating circumstances. 

• We held Zoom meetings with the new school counsellors for Year 13 pupils. 
• We provided ongoing support for students until all applications were submitted. 
• Because we maintained contact with Ucas, we were able to still use our school centre until the end of the academic year, and to support the reapplications of three of our Year 13 students. 
• We sought financial support for students – unsuccessfully, as it happens – because we had many IB scholarship students from Sudan.

Year 12 and Year 11

• We researched possible schools for Year 12. We were able to do this because we had updates about which countries families had relocated to. 
• We advised families about which schools to enrol in, researching reviews, school reputations, rankings, accreditations, school history, International Baccalaureate subjects and subject combinations available, as well as offering well-being support. 
• We communicated with UK university admissions to help students enrol on foundation courses.
• We reached out to school leaders and counsellors to explain our situation and to ask for support for our students. We worked with school counsellors and leaders to ensure that students received the support they needed, as well as collaborating to write references for our former students – whom we knew so well.
• We sent in many, many references for students as they applied to new schools.
• Year 12 were due to receive an initial set of predicted grades at the end of the school year. In hindsight, we should have issued them early with their transcripts. This would have smoothed their academic transition. (Because of the trauma caused by evacuation, as well as looting of staff accommodation, we saw it as a difficult time to ask for predicted grades – but this should be prioritised, if appropriate.)

Takeaways

• Prioritise well-being first.
• Do your research and give solid advice.
• Collaborate: the international school community is compassionate. 
• Don’t expect that everyone will listen.
• Not all schools offer the same courses. Transition can be hard.
• We spoke with concerned schools to ensure that students were receiving sufficient trauma support in the classroom. This encouraged school leaders to contact the IBO and explain the mitigating circumstances – allowing for lost coursework or deadlines missed.