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.
The trio that represented the UK's universities had previously worked together in Amman, meeting Iraqi educationalists, and all have previous experience of the region: Gordon Campbell (University of Leicester, Founding Chair of the British Universities Iraq Consortium - BUIC) has travelled widely in the Islamic world, and has worked with the Foreign Office's Engaging with the Islamic World team. John Withrington (University of Exeter, Chair of BUIC) has visited Iraqi Kurdistan, a part of the world for which his university has a unique expertise. Shaun Curtis (Universities UK) studied the region in his PhD thesis, and in his present post leads on international issues in the HE sector.
Shaun Curtis, Dr John Withrington, and Prof Gordon Campbell amongst the audience at the Baghdad forum.
On 19th January 2009 the UK commandeered a strong presence at the Baghdad Forum for Iraqi and International Universities, where PM Nouri Al-Maliki launched his Initiative live on national television. The Initiative includes an ambitious five-year overseas scholarship programme. It aspires to send upwards of 10,000 students a year for overseas study in English-speaking countries, with the UK and US set to receive the largest share. $1billion has been earmarked and delegates witnessed PM Maliki authorise a prodigious disbursement for the first year of the scheme. The scholarships will mostly be used to train Iraqi undergraduates in UK and US universities, and one of UK representatives' aims has been to ensure that (as in Saudi Arabia) more students come to the UK than the US.
The Initiative will complement Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research's (MoHESR) established scholarship scheme (which already aims to send 1,000 PhD and Masters students overseas each year, and where 215 graduate students studied in the UK in 2008 as part of this scheme), but will be managed outside the MoHESR by a separate Commission. It will also focus on widespread reform of the Iraqi education system including infrastructure and curriculum development.
Dr John Withrington, Shaun Curtis and Prof Gordon Campbell give the
UK presentation at the Baghdad Forum for Iraqi and
International Universities
Following a joint BUIC-Universities UK presentation to several hundred delegates (available to download here), their public diplomacy efforts were further reinforced by Ali Hadawi (Principal of Southend Adult Community College and Chair of the Rawabit Initiative) and Dr John Law (British Council HE Adviser). The British Council in Baghdad did a wonderful job, and through their good offices those involved were connected at the highest level, meeting both the Higher Education Minister (with whom we have worked on previous occasions) and the Prime Minister.
On the second day, the BUIC team had the opportunity to meet hundreds of Iraqi students who were granted access to the Green Zone, eager to find out about studying in the UK (and the USA). Every member of the UK delegation set about imparting information on visas, entry requirements, language testing etc, in the light of stiff competition from our American friends, represented by about 20 US universities and colleges, including soldiers on active duty in Iraq.
The UK representatives left the event exhausted from their efforts to meet the insatiable demand for information from the next generation of Iraqi scholars, and retired to the British Embassy to consider the next steps and to contemplate ways to get the Initiative moving forward. They identified issues such as the need for in-country English language testing and teaching to be embedded in the process, the need to improve provision of UK visas for scholarship students (especially in the light of the anticipated opening of a new US consular service in Baghdad later this year) and the need to come to agreements on fees and cost-of-living allowances.
The question of how the scholarship scheme will be delivered was also discussed; this is a challenging issue, in part because both the US and the UK are involved. BUIC representatives were pleased that Dr Zuhair Humadi, a senior adviser to the Vice-President, intends to visit the UK in the spring to familiarise himself with UK provision. The British Council, which is leading on our collective behalf, is developing an imaginative proposal for a three year Iraq Higher Education Partnership Scheme to be funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DfID).
From L-R, Prof Gordon Campbell (University of Leicester and BUIC), Stuart Scott (British Council Baghdad), HE Nouri al Maliki (Prime Minister of Iraq), Ali Hadawi (Principal of Southend Adult Community College), Dr John Withrington (University of Exeter and BUIC), HE Dr Abid Diab al Ajeely (Iraqi Minister of Higher Education), Dr Shaun Curtis (Universities UK)
UK Higher education institutions have, thanks to the backing of the UK government, including our Prime Minister, the opportunity to contribute to the reshaping of Iraqi higher education, and to facilitate capacity building to restore Iraq's HE system to its historic pre-eminence in the region. Those from the UK in attendance were uniquely privileged to be representing the UK HE sector in its central role in the rebuilding of Iraq, which has huge potential (e.g. the world's second-largest oil reserves) but an HE system that has suffered grievously in two decades of war and sanctions.
The presence of the British Universities Iraq Consortium, Universities UK and the British Council sent a very powerful signal to our Iraqi friends and colleagues. The best of UK HE was on show through professionals able to speak for their sector as whole. Our engagement with the Prime Minister's Education Initiative is a clear statement to all Iraqis of the UK's desire to move from a relationship dominated by military and security affairs, to a more normalised bilateral relationship with education and cultural relations to the fore.
While in transit in Kuwait Dr Withrington spoke to John Gill of the Times Higher Education about plans to help Iraq rebuild its war-torn higher education sector: full article...
Older BUIC news articles can be found in the news archive >>