Higher Education in Iraq receives support from UK Universities

The report considers the prospects for higher education engagement between Iraq and the UK.  It analyses key trends in Iraqi HE, the pathways and roadblocks to future UK-Iraqi collaboration, and makes a number of recommendations for UK policy makers and decision makers in UK universities on how to create a step change in engagement with their Iraqi counterparts.  The report contains a wealth of information on the Iraqi HE system, country demographics and trends, and will be a valuable asset for anyone looking to understand better the challenges facing the country.

The University of Exeter is taking a leading role in driving forward engagement with Iraq, in part through the University’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies which has significant contacts within the Middle East attracting a considerable range of PhD students, but also through the work of the Dean of International Development, Dr John Withrington, who is also the Chair of BUIC.   Earlier this year Dr Withrington was in Baghdad for the launch of Iraqi Prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s ‘Iraq Education Initiative’, and Dr Withrington met again with the Prime Minister during his visit to the UK in April to discuss this initiative.  As part of that visit the University hosted two senior Iraqi government advisors, and were able to showcase the University as providing some of the best that UK higher education has to offer.

Dr Withrington sees the momentum gathering around these developments as a the beginning of a new chapter in British Iraqi relations at Higher Education level: ‘Higher Education has the power to serve as a peaceful catalyst for change, and the universities in BUIC have a common interest in assisting Iraq in developing that country’s most precious resource.  Not oil, but its human capital.

He added, ‘If British universities are truly to make an impact and genuinely reap the benefits of co-operation and collaboration with our peers in Iraq, then we must ensure we do not come across as opportunistic.  We must be partners, not predators.  British universities must not risk compromising their reputation for quality by relaxing their admissions requirements.  However, they cannot ignore the obvious long-term benefits that academic co-operation will yield.’

The attendance of the Chair of Universities UK, Prof Rick Trainor, and two government ministers -Minister of State for Higher Education and Interlectual Property David Lammy and recently appointed Foreign & Commonwealth Minister Ivan Lewis illustrates the significance the British government places on rebuilding Iraqi Higher Education.  £3 million is already being provided by the Department for International Development to fund a Higher Education Partnership Programme between the two countries.   A further £300K is being allocated from 2009-2011 for a Leadership and Management Training Programme for Iraq universities.