On leave from the government department of Georgetown University, Joshua Mitchell, acting chancellor of the American University of Iraq at Sulaimani, talks about the challenges of starting a private university in a country damaged by years of war. He also shares the special pitch he gives prospective faculty members.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, the opening up of the economy and the creation of numerous private universities have given a new generation hope of a bright future.
Head of Higher Education Commission, Member of Parliament Abed Thiyab Al Oujayli, called upon the Ministry of Higher Education on Thursday May, 30 to cancel the central exams for senior-years students in private colleges; and demanding to inform these universities straight away to have enough time to prepare correctly for exams.
In June this year the World Bank published a report, Benchmarking Governance as a Tool for Promoting Change: 100 Universities in MENA Paving the Way, which measures the governance structures of 100 universities in the Middle East and North Africa, or Mena, region. Public and private higher education institutions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq were surveyed.
Kaplan has become the latest international educator to open operations in Iraqi Kurdistan. Starting next month, it will offer university language preparation programmes through a partnership with Koya University in the capital Erbil to 100 students.