Through a plan to
establish a partnership with several Iraqi
universities, professors in the College of Education
at the University of Hawai'i hope to increase the
level of education in the country and provide
opportunities for UH graduate students to teach and
do research.
With about $50,000 in startup money from UH-Manoa,
the college expects to establish the American
Development Center at the University of Dohuk in the
Kurdistan region of Iraq by December.
Through the center, UH will partner with a
consortium of Iraqi universities to provide as many
as 10 English teaching positions to UH or other
American graduate students. It will help develop
plans to improve the region's infrastructure and
ultimately provide mutual research opportunities.
Paul Kingery, associate dean of research in the
College of Education, returned a month ago from a
two-week visit to the Kurdish region of Iraq where
he met with leaders from the various partner
universities.
He said one of the main motivations of the project
is to create an understanding between the Middle
East and West by working together on common
education goals. |
James Filibeck, left, an information technology
specialist for the UH College of Education, and Paul
Kingery, third from right, met with professors and
administrators during their trip to Dohuk a month
ago
Photo: Honolulu A. |
|
"It's a rather simple motivation. We want to bridge
that gap, begin some dialogue with universities
there and begin to have some common projects," he
said. "There are very few universities making this
kind of connection to the Middle East.
We're on the opposite side of the world, but we
don't see any reason why it shouldn't just as well
be us, given modern air travel and Internet
communications."
One of those common projects would be to help
increase the level of advanced English instruction
in the Kurdish region.
Both the Iraq universities and UH graduate students
would benefit from the experience, Kingery said.
"They don't have native English speakers there and
they need help with college-level (English)
instruction," he said.
UH graduate students who go to teach English at the
Iraqi universities would learn Kurdish as well. They
also would receive free graduate instruction at the
university they teach at in addition to a salary of
$1,000 a month. While the salary is relatively low,
Kingery said the cost of living is much cheaper than
in the United States.
The center also would allow for student exchanges,
giving doctoral students from Iraq an opportunity to
pursue their research at UH or other western
universities, he said.
Kingery expects to make another trip to Iraq in
December to formally establish the center at the
University of Dohuk.
This is not the first time the University of Dohuk
has partnered with UH. In October 2003, UH-Manoa's
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
began agricultural research at the university
through the HEAD program — Higher Education and
Development.
The semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq
is military- and terrorism-free, Kingery said. But
Kurdistan is generally impoverished and has poor
electric, water and road infrastructure.
The center would draw on international expertise to
help improve the infrastructure at the Kurdish
universities and in the region.
James Filibeck, an Information Technology specialist
with the College of Education, joined Kingery on the
Iraq trip, where he helped survey the communication
and IT infrastructure at the universities.
"Most of their (Internet and phone) communication is
via satellite, which can be very slow and
expensive," he said. "It really drains them
financially."
In addition to improved communication, the center
would help to improve computer labs, banking
capabilities and even mail service in the region.
"Those simple things could really help them
tremendously," Filibeck said.
Kingery said helping to improve the infrastructure
will ultimately allow university researchers to
carry out their projects.
"We will have to help them get started with research
because they are not currently doing any," he said.
One of the main areas of research would be in
regional planning and addressing the region's poor
infrastructure, mainly its water supply.
Kingery said the lack of safe water is a major
problem in the region, and many children often get
sick from drinking water in school. Researchers
would help to identify ways to improve the water
supply and sanitation, he said.
Few studies have been done on the area, Kingery
said, so agricultural and infrastructure research
also would be important.
All of those research projects will be covered by
grants from organizations such as the United Nations
and the United States Agency for International
Development
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