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Higher education in the developing world is challenged by high\u00a0 number\u00a0 of\u00a0 students\u00a0 and\u00a0 rigid\u00a0 curricula.\u00a0 These challenges require innovative ways to support students learning. In this paper, a new extracurricular activity wasdesigned to promote academic research and self-learningskills using undergraduate\u2013postgraduate peer learning.The course aims tofill the gap in active learning in thedeveloping\u00a0 world.\u00a0 The\u00a0 newly\u00a0 designed\u00a0 course\u00a0 was delivered to 20 students from different fields of studies inSyria. Each group was mentored by a postgraduate student and supervised by an academic. Students provided positive feedback\u00a0 on\u00a0 the\u00a0 course\u00a0 design,\u00a0 aims\u00a0 and\u00a0 skills development. Comparison of students\u2019 academic researchskills\u00a0 was\u00a0 performed\u00a0 through\u00a0 pre-\u00a0 and\u00a0 post-course evaluation. Significant improvement in literature search skills was observed (p< 0.05). The proposed course can be replicated\u00a0 in\u00a0 other\u00a0 developing\u00a0 countries\u00a0 creating\u00a0 an educational opportunity for research and self-learning skills among students at different grades of studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n