Study of sustainable development goals of Syrian higher education: strategy, effects and future insights

Purpose This research mainly aims to shed light on sustainable development in Syrian higher education during the Syrian crisis. Design/methodology/approach In this research, the authors mainly study sustainable development in the Syrian Arab Republic through the bibliometrics data of universities and research centres in Syrian Arab Republic, where these data are related to sustainable development. Also, the authors study the strategies used in the university with the largest research output of sustainable development in the Syrian Arab Republic. The authors extract research data arranged in sustainable development goals in the Syrian Arab Republic from SciVal database. Findings Based on the bibliometric data on sustainable development research in the Syrian Arab Republic, the authors find that universities and research centres in the Syrian Arab Republic have taken important steps towards the goals of sustainable development, especially in the year 2022. The authors also find that the University of Damascus had the largest share in research related to the goals of sustainable development, and the authors find that this is due to the strategies taken by the University of Damascus towards the goals of sustainable development, such as the policy of digital transformation, the policy of recycling and the increase of green areas in the university. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind to study the goals of sustainable development in Syrian higher education during the Syrian crisis period.