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Iraq's Kurdistan scholars seize chance to
conceive a nation
3.8.2007
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August 3, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- A
guard armed with a machine gun stands in front of a
compound that shares a high concrete wall with a
prison. But inside the University of Kurdistan,
students are at work at the only English-language
university in Kurdistan autonomous region (northern
Iraq).
Gates open to a freshly laid lawn area. Off to the
right, a four-story steel-and-glass facility is
equipped with lockers, air-conditioned computer labs
and prayer rooms. Faculty and students say their
college is a significant break from the era of
Saddam Hussein, when school curriculum was
controlled by Baghdad.
"Freedom of expression is the mark of a modern
community, not buildings or technologies," said
Abbas Vali, the school's dean. "Under Saddam,
university education was an extension of a political
system adapted to meet state demands. Today, we are
free to teach what we feel students need in a
democratic climate. We have a novel system here, and
we hope it can become a model" for Iraq.
Opened in September, the school has some 300
undergraduates and 50 graduate students, in
disciplines ranging from economics to petroleum
engineering. This is the "nucleus of a very large
university," Vali said, adding that the student body
is expected to reach 3,000 men and women spread out
over multiple campuses.
The Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government,
granted autonomy under the Iraqi Constitution, pays
full tuition for all students. Officials are betting
that a new crop of English-speaking, Western-savvy
graduates will ensure the enduring stability and
economic growth that might one day serve as the
groundwork for an independent state supported by
most residents.
The opportunity to be part of such a high-stakes
educational project has attracted what one
instructor has dubbed an "academic foreign legion."
Christopher Whitney, director of English studies,
says the university has attracted "alternative types
who are not afraid to go to places where factors are
unknown." Whitney, is from Canada, has taught in
Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Robert Doebler, a professor in the English
Department, taught for nine years in northeast
China. So far, the native of Princeton, Minn., says
his biggest surprise is the absence of a siege
mentality. "I've walked around alone from day one,
and people just let you go, no staring, nothing."
Simon Duffin, an Oxford graduate and self-described
history junkie who teaches English literature, spent
eight months teaching in Diyarbakir, the Kurdish
region of southeastern Turkey.
Tanyel Taysi, a lecturer in political science from
Seattle, says she intends to place a special focus
on the modern nation -state, a matter of deep
interest in the Kurdish area.
"There is a big debate in this region whether the
nation-state is even viable," she said. "Here, the
hope is alive and well."
The vast majority of students are Kurds, a minority
in Iraq that had been brutalized under Hussein's
reign. Arab Muslims and Assyrian Christians also are
enrolled, and future plans call for a diversified
student body that reflects the nation's cultural
kaleidoscope.
Women make up about 40 percent of the student body,
and Duffin says there's no distinction along gender
lines. Some wear traditional Islamic head scarves.
Zhiyan Hassan, 26, the only woman in the political
science department, says she wants to "pave the way
for other women to enter a field dominated by men."
"The women are very assertive," said Duffin. "They
don't want to be housewives, they want to be nuclear
physicists."
Students, in turn, say they are driven by the chance
to learn in a novel free-wheeling environment where
dissent is encouraged.
"Students here are keen and sophisticated," said
Whitney. "It's very important for them to do well in
their studies, they're confident to take you on, and
they will disagree and stand their ground."
The secular university's openness, however, can also
be a tricky issue for educators when it clashes with
the region's conservative values. Whitney recalls a
recent class in which a lecture on bronze statues
came to a dead halt after much tiptoeing around the
word "nude."
In the meantime, most students say they can't wait
to help in the reconstruction of their would-be
country.
"It's a new life for us, and we are excited to
become the leaders of this generation," said
26-year-old Bakhtiar Hussein.
sfgate com
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