Universities in Sierra Leone are playing a major role in reintegrating former child soldiers into society, a session at Going Global heard.

Jonas Redwood-Sawyerr, vice-chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone, said that educating ex-combatants was a ¡°key challenge¡± for the country¡¯s higher education system.

Professor Redwood-Sawyerr explained to Times Higher Education that dealing with the students¡¯ volatile emotional state was more difficult than bringing them up to scratch academically.

He said that many of the 10,000 students at his institution, one of the country¡¯s two public universities, had been combatants in the decade-long civil war that officially ended in 2002.

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¡°After the war, these boys were so dangerous because they were almost like killing machines,¡± he said.

¡°You used to see 10-year-olds walking around with an RPG [rocket propelled grenade launcher] over their shoulder and some of these are the children who became students.¡±

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Professor Redwood-Sawyerr said his academics were helping students to gain basic social skills, including peaceful ways of resolving disputes.

¡°They come from a culture of violence and intolerance, so we look at alternative ways to solve confrontation.

However, the strong focus on rehabilitating ex-child soldiers was controversial, Professor Redwood-Sawyerr added.

¡°We also have war victims - often amputees - who feel they are not cared for in the same way as former soldiers,¡± he said. ¡°Ex-combatants have a fully fledged scheme to help them rehabilitate, so it¡¯s a social debate on where the resources should go.¡±

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However, he believed higher education should play a vital role in preventing future conflicts.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com