Iraq and the UK have a long history of cultural and educational collaboration, and BUIC is proud to be working with the Iraqi higher education sector in the early stages of the Iraq Education Initiative.
Announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in January 2009, this new initiative will send up to 10,000 Iraqi students overseas per year over the next five years to complete their higher education. The initiative is designed to mitigate four decades of underdevelopment due to wars and the economic stagnation of the last two decades. more >>
On the 23 of June 2009 The Right Honourable Ivan Lewis, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, welcomed those in attendance at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the launch of a major research report on UK higher education engagement with Iraq.
Produced by the UK Higher Education International Unit; the British Universities Iraq Consortium; and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (now part of the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), this report considers the prospects for higher education engagement between the United Kingdom and Iraq. It analyses key trends in Iraqi higher education, the pathways and roadblocks to future UK-Iraq collaboration. It also provides discrete recommendations for policy makers in the UK and decision makers at UK universities on how to create a step change in UK engagement with the Iraqi academic community. more >>
At the behest of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, H.M. Ambassador in Iraq (Christopher Prentice) and the Director of the British Council in Iraq (Tony Reilly), Two members of the BUIC exec joined a small group of individuals from the UK Higher Education sector that travelled to Baghdad to participate in the launch of the Iraqi Prime Minister's Education Initiative in January.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office offered financial support and accommodation, the RAF provided transport and Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a personal representative in the form of Sion Simon MP, our Minister for Further Education. Her Majesty's Government rightly sees education as a tool that has the potential to change the relationship between our countries. HMG's aims of enhancing the security and prosperity of the UK are clearly advanced by our HE sector: our endeavours in Iraq to facilitate the creation of employable graduates and a thinking citizenry will enhance our safety in Britain, while campuses and communities across the UK will benefit from hosting hundreds of Iraqi students each year. more >>
Mrs Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, the First Lady of Iraq, visited the University in October to talk to academics about the development of Kurdish Studies. The University has been given an extremely generous sum of money by the Ibrahim Ahmed Foundation to support Kurdish Studies, in particular, a new Chair in Kurdish Studies.
The gift has confirmed Exeter's position as a world leader in Kurdish Studies. Mrs Hero Ibrahim Ahmed is a director of the Foundation. One of the highlights of the visit was the official naming of the Ibrahim Ahmed Room, at the University's historic Reed Hall, in recognition of their support.
Born in Manchester, Professor Christine Allison grew up in the North West of England, but her passion for the Kurdish language took her to the heart of Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
"It was a very exciting but humbling experience," said Professor
Christine Allison, when asked to describe what it was like carrying out
fieldwork in
Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1992. more >>
The British Council has as one of its goals to develop long-term relationships between the academic community in the United Kingdom and Iraq. To this end they have allocated £150,000 to BUIC to administer. This is available to member Universities so they can fund projects which help built up the capacity of the Iraqi academic community. The British Council suggested activities such as the development of new teaching materials, courses and curriculum; the development of joint research programmes and publication of findings; staff development; activity that strengthens management and administration links between HE institutions in the UK and Iraq; or the development of realistic joint project proposals for external funding. more >>
"In a time when the Iraqi people are deeply concerned about their future, institutions such as the University of Mosul are picking up the pieces of a shattered higher education system. At Mosul's helm is its President, Newcastle graduate Obay Al-Dewachi (MSc Agricultural and Food Marketing 1977). Dan Howarth speaks to him about his pivotal role in revitalizing a once prosperous academic tradition..." more >>
Rebuilding Iraq from the classroom upwards >>
Farewell lunch to celebrate the success of the visit of Iraqi Education Specialists >>
In April 2006 the University of Exeter was host to a delegation of 16 educational specialists from Iraqi Kurdistan. Led by Dr Khaled Salih, the special envoy of the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the delegation was in the UK for a week at the invitation of UK Trade & Investment, a Government body drawing upon expertise from the Department of Trade & Industry and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
In the two days that they were in Exeter the delegation met with a range of experts from the secondary school, further education and higher education sectors. Dr John Withrington, Director of the International Office, said 'This was an excellent opportunity for educationalists from Kurdistan to see the best that Britain can offer in the way of education and training. I was delighted that the delegation was able to spend two days in a busy schedule seeing Exeter, and meeting with fellow professionals. The University's Institute for Arab & Islamic Studies teaches Kurdish at degree level, the only university in the country to do so, and this helped make our visitors feel particularly welcome'.
In May the University of Exeter was host to nine students from universities in Iraqi Kurdistan. In a visit sponsored by the British Council in Iraq, the students were able to spend a full week at Exeter, working with the Students' Guild and gaining a valuable insight into student life at a British university. One of the students said, "It was the first time that I had visited the UK. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to visit Exeter's beautiful campus, and to meet so many English students. Everybody was so friendly, and I was really impressed with the facilities and how kind people were. I hope I can come back to Exeter one day."