The Syrian Future Movement is closely following the statement issued by the Syrian Pharmacists Syndicate on Monday, August 10, 2026, addressed to high school graduates. The statement warned of a saturated pharmaceutical job market and called for pursuing modern specializations that align with future needs.
The Syndicate, driven by its professional and national responsibility, felt compelled to issue this statement in light of the changes occurring in the pharmaceutical education sector. The number of colleges has multiplied from a single college in 1990 to 29 public and private colleges today, graduating between 6,000 and 7,000 pharmacists annually. Official records indicate that there are approximately 71,000 registered pharmacists, while the number of pharmacies does not exceed 20,000. This means that roughly 50% of pharmacists are either not practicing or residing outside the country.
The Syrian Future Movement appreciates the Pharmacists Syndicate’s initiative in issuing this awareness statement and sees several key implications:
First: The Syrian Future Movement notes that this statement represents a qualitative shift in the role of professional syndicates, moving from mere registration bodies to active participants in academic and professional guidance. We also see this initiative as a model of transparency and social responsibility that should govern union work in the new Syria.
Second: The Syrian Future Movement points out that the figures revealed by the syndicate highlight the extent of the imbalance in the higher education system. The unplanned horizontal expansion in the establishment of new colleges has led to the graduation of numbers far exceeding market needs. We believe this warning should serve as a wake-up call for a comprehensive review of university admission policies across all disciplines.
Third: The Syrian Future Movement commends the syndicate’s call for students to pursue future-oriented specializations such as artificial intelligence, computer science, mechatronics, and software engineering. It considers these fields to be the driving force behind development in the 21st century, and that investing in them is an investment in Syria’s future.
The Syrian Future Movement points out that the saturation of the pharmaceutical job market is not unique to Syria; many countries have faced this challenge and successfully addressed it through policies and strategies that can be learned from:
- Regulating admissions to pharmacy colleges: Some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, have implemented a system to determine the number of students admitted to pharmacy colleges based on actual labor market needs, thus preventing the graduation of numbers exceeding the market’s capacity.
- Expanding pharmacists’ career paths: In countries like the United States and Australia, the pharmacist’s role is no longer limited to dispensing medication. It has expanded to include clinical care, chronic disease management, and specialized pharmaceutical consultations, opening new horizons for graduates.
- Investing in modern specializations: In Qatar, the College of Pharmacy organized international training programs for its students in Malaysia, Scotland, and New Zealand. It also held specialized workshops on employing artificial intelligence in pharmaceutical practice, emphasizing the importance of keeping pace with global developments.
Strategic Workforce Planning: In countries like Germany and Singapore, higher education policies are based on thorough studies of current and future labor market needs, with flexible mechanisms to adjust educational outcomes based on these studies.
The Syrian Future Movement believes that the union’s warning, while important, is insufficient on its own to address the root causes of the crisis. It necessitates addressing deeper challenges, namely:
- The absence of strategic planning for higher education. There is still no clear national vision for aligning educational outcomes with development needs, leading to the expansion of certain specializations without a study of market demands.
- The weakness of academic and career guidance in schools. Students choose their university majors without sufficient awareness of labor market requirements or the opportunities offered by modern specializations, necessitating a fundamental reform of the school guidance system.
- The limited availability of applied specializations in Syria. Despite the union’s call for modern specializations, these remain limited in Syrian universities and lack the necessary infrastructure and qualified personnel, thus hindering students’ ability to respond to this call.
- There is a need for a comprehensive review of university admissions policies. The situation in pharmacy is not an exception; rather, it reflects a broader crisis encompassing other medical, engineering, and humanities disciplines, requiring a comprehensive national review.
Based on its scientific and national responsibility to monitor higher education issues, the Syrian Future Movement recommends the following:
- Establishing a national body for strategic planning in higher education, responsible for identifying current and future labor market needs in coordination with all ministries and sectors, and developing flexible university admissions policies that adapt to these needs, similar to the German and Singaporean models.
- Updating university specializations and aligning them with the demands of the times by introducing new specializations such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, renewable energy, and biomedical engineering, while developing current curricula to include the digital and analytical skills that are increasingly in demand.
- Launching a national academic and career guidance campaign targeting high school students, in cooperation with professional associations, universities, and the private sector, to provide them with accurate information about the labor market and promising specializations, and to help them make informed decisions about their academic and professional futures.
- Developing postgraduate programs and applied specializations in pharmacy colleges and other sectors to broaden graduates’ career paths and encourage them to pursue scientific research, the pharmaceutical industry, specialized clinical care, and digital health.
- Encouraging investment in technical and vocational education, particularly in modern specializations, in coordination with the private sector, to ensure the graduation of qualified personnel who meet the actual needs of the labor market, while aligning technical education outcomes with national development requirements.
The Syrian Future Movement commends the Pharmacists Syndicate’s initiative in issuing this awareness statement and considers it a model. This serves as a model for other professional associations and sends an important message to students and their families about the necessity of future-oriented thinking when choosing university majors.
It is a reminder that education is the foundation for building a modern state, and that investing in quality, targeted education is the only guarantee for achieving sustainable development and building a new Syria.
The Syrian Future Movement affirms that scientific advancement is not achieved through the sheer number of graduates, but rather through the quality of education, its alignment with development needs, and the graduates’ ability to innovate, create, and compete in the local and global job markets.
For its part, the Syrian Future Movement will remain a supporter of everything that enhances the quality of higher education and its alignment with the job market, a critic of everything that hinders the achievement of academic justice and equal opportunities for all, and a monitor of everything accomplished on the ground, striving for a new Syria where science and knowledge are at the forefront of priorities, and where academic specializations are the gateway to development and prosperity.
