Left to Right: David Allen (Registrar, University of Exeter), Dr John Law (Higher Education Adviser, British Council), Dr Shaun Curtis (Head of International Unit, Universities UK), Tony Reilly (Director Iraq, British Council), Dr John Withrington (Dean of International Development)
Front row: Dr Saad A M Ibrahim (Prime Minister's Office, Board of Advisors, Republic of Iraq); Dr Zuhair A. G. Humadi (Senior Adviser to the Vice President, Presidency's Office, Republic of Iraq).
Exeter advises Iraq on future of higher education
The University of Exeter is advising the Iraqi Government on how to rebuild higher education.
In a meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister on 30 April, the University’s Dean of International Development Dr John Withrington, spoke about the role British universities can play in helping Iraq.
At the meeting, British Council Chair Lord Kinnock and Iraqi Prime Minister Noori Al-Maliki discussed a strengthening of educational links between the UK and Iraq. Lord Kinnock announced that the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) will be providing £3 million of new funding for a Higher Education Partnership Programme between the two countries. The funding follows the launch in January by Prime Minister Maliki of the Iraq Education Initiative: a scheme to reform the Iraqi education system, including the infrastructure and curriculum, which will also offer 10,000 foreign scholarships a year to Iraqi students. Dr John Withrington attended the launch in Baghdad, where he was able to advise potential students of the benefits of studying in the UK.
Dr John Withrington presented the Iraqi Prime Minister with a draft report entitled ‘UK Higher Education engagement with Iraq’, which he commissioned jointly as Chair of the British Universities Iraq Consortium (BUIC), with Universities UK and the UK Government’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
This meeting followed a visit to the University of Exeter earlier in the week by two of Iraq’s senior Government advisors. Dr Zuhair Humadi and Dr Saad Ibrahim Abdul Majid were accompanied by Tony Reilly, Director of the British Council’s office in Iraq and Dr Shaun Curtis, Head of the International Unit at Universities UK. Exeter was selected as one of two UK universities, along with University College London, to showcase the best that the UK higher education has to offer. The delegation met senior management from the University and was also given a tour of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.
Dr John Withrington, Dean of International Development at the University of Exeter, says: “The Higher Education system in Iraq has suffered from decades of war, sanctions and neglect. Exeter has a key role to play, as part of BUIC, in helping to rebuild capacity in Iraqi universities, and to help educate the next generation of Iraqi academics.”
Tony Reilly British Council Director Iraq said "The UK and Iraq have always enjoyed close educational ties. Prime Minister Maliki's new education initiative provides an opportunity to strengthen and deepen these ties with a new generation of young Iraqi students hungry for educational opportunities and international engagement."
Date: 2 May 2009
