Although characterized by repeated ethnic conflicts, Sudan has implemented affirmative action at universities since the 1970s for students coming from war zones and remote areas. The implementation of compensatory measures has been promoted--somehow imposed--by the several peace treaties and by the massive expansion of higher education during the 1990s. The former have led to the creation of "special admission," mainly for students coming from conflict zones; the latter has led to the creation of "state admissions," which favor local recruitment for the newly created universities. However, those measures have proved inefficient for several reasons: first, the lack of consistency of the policy; second, the lack of political will; third, the lack of monitoring. The wider context--the liberalization of higher education and the independence of South Sudan--has also contributed to diminishing the scope of the policy.