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American university in Iraqi Kurdistan
needs money
26.8.2010
By Dana Asaad |
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August
26, 2010
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — ‘This is a huge academic
and cultural project. We should all work together to
find enough funding for it,’ says Dr. Barham Salih,
the Kurdistan Region Government’s Prime Minister, of
the American University of Iraq project.
Salih, who also chairs the university's Council of
Trustees, told Niqash that the university ‘cannot
sustain itself in the initial phase and local as
well as foreign investors should invest in it.’
The American University of Iraq – Sulaimaniyah (AUIS)
was founded in 2007, along similar lines to American
Universities in Lebanon and Egypt. Three years on,
it was granted the recognition and confidence of the
Liberal Academy of Higher Education in America. The
academy has recognised its graduation certificates
and treated them in a similar way it treats
certificates given by US universities.
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American university in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi
Kurdistan. Photo: auis.org |
Around 375 students are
currently enrolled in the AUIS’s different
departments. The university is in desperate need of
funding to remain open and to open new departments.
Though funding is considered one of the university’s
main problems, AUIS’s Advisor for Academic Affairs,
John Acristo, notes that the university is
financially assisting nearly 85 percent of its
students. Central to the university’s beliefs is the
essential right of able people to a good education.
Many students are exempted from at least part of
their study fees, which total up to US$10,000 per
student.
‘The university is not limited to the rich. All
talented youngsters with the right qualifications
can attend,’ says Salih. ‘We don’t intend to change
it into a commercial project but into an independent
academic and cultural one.’
Acristo admits the concerns of many that funding and
financial problems hinder the university’s
development.
"In the beginning, humanities departments were
opened. The university is intending to open science
departments when the necessary funding is found. If
an investor grants us US$25 million, we can open
petrochemical and petroleum engineering
departments."
At the same time, he points out that the university
is a non-profit organisation and that student
enrolments generate the income, which is retained
and used to finance expansion.
‘We expect the number of students to reach 10,000
from inside and outside Iraq and thus the university
could become self-sufficient in the future,’ he
says.
Acristo says that the funds to establish and manage
the university thus far have come from many sources,
including the KRG, headed by Salih himself, which
granted the university US$65 million.
‘In addition, there were a number of foreign and
local investors. The US Embassy in Baghdad, as well,
allocated US$10 million for the new AUIS building.’
That building, according to plans, will be ready in
February 2011, and students will be able to move
across from their small temporary home.
‘The total area of the new university is 340 acres,
allocated by the KRG in Sulaimaniyah. When the
campus buildings are completed, the university will
be able to accommodate 10-15,000 students,’ says
Joshua Mitchell, the AUIS chairman.
As for the reasons for choosing Iraq from so many
other countries as the location for the new American
University, Mitchell pointed to Iraq’s ‘long
tradition in respecting sciences and education.’
‘Iraq needs to be reminded of its civilisation, but
the Gulf States need to build a civilisation. Iraq's
population is 32 million and the majority is youth.
This is another motive for opening the university in
Iraq," said Mitchell.
The university's educational system is a liberal one
similar to systems adopted in US universities.
‘Being accredited by the American Liberal Academy
means that we are adopting the same US educational
system with regard to lectures, semesters and
professors,’ says Acristo.
According to this system, a student focuses on one
particular subject – their major – and is given
additional courses in other subjects.
‘We teach our students how to think and not what to
think,’ Acristo explains.
The students will also be offered and intensive
English language course extending for six months
before they start their academic education because
the university's courses are only offered in
English.
Dashnye Daloye, Director of Student Affairs,
believes the American system and the language
barrier were initially two big problems that
students had to face. Overcoming them is key to the
university’s future advancement.
‘Students are not familiar with freedom, absence of
fear, criticism and dialogue, they are not used to
healthy relations with their professors. Students in
Kurdistan as well as all over Iraq have grown
accustomed to listening but not to dialogue and
criticism,’ she adds.
‘In the beginning, students were not equipped well
enough with the English language and could not
properly interact with the material they were being
taught. This is why English lessons continue through
the first and second year of their education. So
far,www.ekurd.netwith
our systems and plans, we have been able to address
the problems we faced.’
Acristo believes the university will go from
strength to strength.
‘If we were not confident of the project’s success,
we wouldn’t have started it,’ he says, with Mitchell
echoing his views and stating that there is a still
a long way to go before that success is fulfilled.
‘This university is by no means what we dreamed of.
Our goal is to build the world’s biggest American
University here in Iraq and we will make this dream
come true,’ he asserts.
It seems that the hopes shared between these two
professors and the KRG’s Prime Minister will need
great effort if they are to be realised. With the
right investment and the right plan, though, the
dream can be fulfilled in Sulaimaniyah.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, niqash org
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