Iraq Rebuilds Higher Education Abroad

BAGHDAD— Iraq is planning to send thousands of its students to compete their advanced studies in universities around the world, with the hope of breathing new life into the country’s once-respected education system that was crushed under the sanctions and then invasion.

“It is a fantastic achievement,” Zuhair al-Hummadi, personal assistant to the prime minister for educational affairs who is overseeing the initiative, told IslamOnline.net.

The plan will see some 50,000 students sent to get their masters and PhDs from abroad over the next five years.

While students will be encouraged to pursue studies in medicine, engineering, law and technology, they will be free to pick their area of interest.

The program will cost the government nearly $1 billion, covering students’ tuition, fees and accommodation.

“It is an expensive investment but will certainly bring excellent results,” maintains Hummadi, who is also the head of the Higher Committee for Education Development.

The Committee will implement the program with the help of the Washington-based Academy for Educational Development (AED), an independent non-profit organization that will provide advice, control and administrative support.

Some 22 universities in the US and 21 universities in Britain are participating in the initiative.

“The scholarship is planned to start next fall with nearly 500 students who will travel to United States and United Kingdom,” said Hummadi.

“What makes it even more interesting for students is that it will run with relatively free country’s bureaucracy and they will be able to get their scholarship in any university from the listed countries.”

The official asserted that more universities would be added in the near future.

“The program will also include universities in Australia, Canada, France and Japan.”

Lost 

The government hopes the ambitious plan will be a turning point for the future of the country.

“We hope that it will be essential to keep stability in Iraq because education is the first step for democracy and peace,” says Hummadi.

For many Iraqis, the education system stands in stark comparison to what it used to be not so many years ago.

“Of course the educational system collapsed after the 2003 invasion,” Rim Abdullah, a dentistry teacher who was awarded a scholarship by the Saddam regime to pursue her PhD in England in the 80s, told IOL.

“Before the invasion, hundreds were getting their PhDs and Masters abroad.”

The Iraqi mother is blaming the West for Iraq’s collapsing education.

She notes that even before the invasion, the education system was crumbling under draconian embargo imposed by the US and the UN.

“Not only the Americans are guilty for the chaotic education in Iraq, but the UN helped too.”

Today, Abdullah is struggles in vain for her daughter to get the same chance she once got.

Saeed al-Munthar, a law professor who had his advanced studies in England before the 1991 sanctions, also blames the sanctions and the invasion for destroying Iraq’s once highly-respected educational system.

“The majority of teachers at Iraqi Universities had had their advanced studies abroad and helped new students to learn with quality,” he recalled.

“Today students are ending their studies with low experience.”

Munthar, however, is hoping that the new initiative would help Iraqis regain some of what they were made to lose.

“I always had a dream to make advanced studies in England,” says Abdel-Rahman, who will get his medicine degree from Baghdad University next year.

“I will study hard to get good marks and don’t lose this chance.”