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Comment: Iraqi Kurdistan's Universities
Need Reform
31.8.2007
By Mariwan Hama-Saeed (ICR No. 231) |
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Equality and democracy in higher education must be
practiced, not preached.
August
31, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq)
Higher education in Iraqi Kurdistan could prove to
be a shining example to universities in the rest of
the country, if significant changes are made to the
way it is administered.
The Kurdish government has promised a bright future
for its youth, with opportunities to study at
excellent new universities, such as the American
University of Iraq, to be built in Sulaimaniyah.
At the same time, higher education has benefited
from the arrival of Arab academics who have fled
sectarian violence in central and southern parts of
the country, and Kurdish intellectuals who have
returned from the Europe and elsewhere.
But the university system requires extensive reforms
before it can serve Iraqi students. The region's
universities are hindered by politics, corruption, a
lack of resources and a culture that does not
promote critical or independent thought.
These higher education problems — which are
crippling Kurdistan on almost every level — could
jeopardise the future of Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraq.
Over the next few decades, Iraq will continue to
face many challenges that will require open-minded
citizens who can think critically. In order to lead
the country, the disillusioned younger generation
needs to acquire the skills and knowledge that are
currently not offered in Iraq’s Kurdish
universities.
As a journalist and a 2004 graduate of the
University of Sulaimaniyah, I can personally attest
to the shortcomings of Iraqi Kurdistan's higher
education system. I studied English, and about 80
out of the 130 students who entered the department
in my year received "special acceptance", meaning
they relied on a powerful personal connection —
usually through one of the main Kurdish parties — to
enroll at the university.
English was rarely spoken in my home town of Halabja,
and I learned the language primarily by memorising
English dictionaries and listening to BBC News on
the radio. I thought that at university, I would
have the institutional support to build an expertise
in English, but I was disappointed. For example, we
started our programme by studying Shakespeare, which
is difficult even for native speakers, and were
rarely given opportunities to speak English in class
or use our language skills practically.
Realising that I needed to take the initiative if I
wanted to learn anything, I volunteered to work with
the few foreign professors at the university. This
was how I learned English — not through the
curriculum. Few of the students ever learned how to
speak or write English well.
Power is an important component in Iraqi Kurdistan's
higher education system. The universities, like most
public and private institutions in the region, are
run by the two main parties, the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. These
parties have made it clear that they do not want to
be challenged, and any challenge to convention is
also rejected at universities.
Most of the lecturers are educated in Soviet-era
studies and themes that are no longer relevant, and
the higher education system is entirely based on
traditional methods. Iraqi students are restless and
eager to learn new methods.
We frequently petitioned and agitated for both basic
services (it's difficult to study when there isn't
electricity or water in your dorm) and modern
curricula. If you only study curricula from the
1950s, you will think like you're in the 1950s.
Since I have graduated, the protests have only
grown, yet nothing has changed.
Many lecturers have also been punished for speaking
against the political system in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Farhad Pirbal, a highly influential,
Sorbonne-educated Kurdish literature lecturer at the
University of Salahaddin, was suspended after
challenging the main political parties’ dominance
and the power structure in Kurdistan. Earlier this
year, he wrote a searing open letter denouncing
corruption within the university’s administration.
Pirbal is well known for his collegial relationship
with students, which is rare in Iraqi Kurdistan. In
normal circumstances, lecturers set themselves apart
from the students, who are seen and not heard. One
of my lecturers once told a joke in class, and when
the students laughed, he yelled at us that he was
still the lecturer and we the students.
I had to unlearn this lecturer-student relationship
when I came to the United States to study
journalism. In my first semester, I kept quiet
because I feared challenging lecturers’ ideas. My
grades, which are in part based on class
participation, suffered slightly as a result. In my
second semester, I realised that my lecturers valued
the opinions and analyses of students.
The Iraqi Kurdish government has long promised
reform and improvements in higher education, but it
has been only talk. As the potential leader in
higher education in Iraq, it is time that we saw
some action.
If the government is serious about improving
education, it needs to devote resources to providing
basic services for students such as electricity,
water and modern books. The curricula will also need
to be modernised. This will be costly -- but is
entirely necessary.
Beyond resources, the system needs an overhaul.
Equality and democracy need to be practiced, not
preached.
Students, too, need to be heard. Iraq will not
succeed if the youth do not have the freedom to
develop critical thinking skills, which are required
to build a society that is inventive and
constructive. Ultimately, Iraq's main resource will
not be the
country's oil, but its minds.
Mariwan Hama-Saeed is Kurdish editor for the
Institute for War and Peace Reporting's Iraq
programme. He is a master’s degree candidate in
journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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