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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Kurdistan Becomes A Higher Education Sanctuary |
| 2011-05-18 |
| Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, thousands of Iraqi students have fled north to the much more stable Kurdish area. As a result, universities have proliferated throughout the region—a boon for the local economy. Over the past five years, at least 10 new universities have opened in the area, bringing the region's total to 20, and another five public universities are in the works, including one in the town of Hamdaniya to accommodate Christian refugees. Universities in this area, controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government, allow students from Baghdad and other unstable parts of Iraq to complete their education without leaving the country, a factor that has reversed the brain-drain that typically comes with conflict. Since 2003, the KRG has been engaged in a "visiting system" under which state university students from the south can transfer to the north and receive a degree from their home university. The American University of Iraq-Sulaimani was founded in 2007 in Iraq's Kurdish region by a group of Iraqis and foreigners, inspired in part by the landmark American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Its executive M.B.A. program for working professionals is run in conjunction with Germany's Furtwangen University, and is accredited in Germany by the Foundation for International Business Administration. Another new university attracting refugees from the south is the Lebanese French University in Erbil, the provincial capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Founded by academics from Beirut in 2007, the institution offers a four-year, French-style education in English. Its French partners are the University of Picardie-Jules Verne and the University of Nîmes. It will soon move into a new 50,000-square-meter campus. At the same time, with a $100 million grant from the Qatari government, the KRG is sending 1,400 students abroad on full scholarships, to study for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, with the stipulation that they will return home upon completion. Students qualify for this program based on their academic records. Most are Kurdish, but some are exiles from the south. In addition, professors will go on six-month training programs to Europe and the U.S. This is how a modern nation is built. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVT. versus * DAILY TIMES.PK > KURDISH HIZBULLAH RAISES SPECTRE FOR NEW CONFLICT. Ready to take up arms + militancy again after decade-long absence??? IIUC, Kurdish Hizbul versus former-ally-now-deadly-foe PKK versus Iraq IGA versus Lebanon's Hezbollah versus Turkish Govt. versus Iran??? Oh yeah, "2012" + inter-Muslim "Globalism", NWO. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-05-18 22:46 |