Workshop on Quality Assurance for Iraqi Higher Education systems.
Iraqi professors, engineers and managers meeting in Doha are more than ever determined to combine efforts towards enhancing the quality of higher education in Iraq
Doha, 2 June 2011 – UNESCO is organizing a five day capacity building workshop on techniques and processes of self-assessment of 12 selected Iraqi Colleges of Engineering.
Within the framework of the partnership launched last year between UNESCO and the Office of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser to support the rehabilitation of Iraqi higher education systems, a training workshop on Quality Assurance is organized in Doha from 6 to 10 June to lead a core team of 23 managers to implement quality in their respective institutions.
This team, composed of key officers from Colleges of Engineering in 12 different Iraqi universities (8 from Central Government and 4 from Kurdistan), has been selected to launch a Quality Assurance pilot project in Iraq. Four Qatari experts from the Higher Education Institute at the Supreme Education Council and Qatar University are also taking part in this training to better address joint collaboration in the near future.
Also aiming at reinforcing linkages between Iraqi academics living in Iraq and Iraqi scientists living abroad, this training will be conducted by distinguished Iraqi professors serving in famous Universities in UK, USA and Australia. Members of the Network of Iraqi Scientists Abroad (NISA), the trainers have been chosen as much for their accurate educational expertise as for their knowledge of Iraqi Higher Education context and background.
The training will be thoroughly addressing system and processes of Quality Assurance in Higher Education institutions and programs and will pave the grounds for accreditation procedures. Back to Iraq, the participants will be assigned to perform a self-evaluation of their colleges and identify the areas for quality improvement. This first pilot experience is intended to be duplicated to other colleges and specializations as a foundation for the establishment of a National Quality Assurance and Accreditation System in Iraq.
Globalization and increased academic and professional mobility have made quality assurance a necessity. By supporting Quality Assurance, UNESCO aims at bringing the Iraqi higher education system up to the international standards.
For more information, please contact: Ms. Semia Saadaoui, Higher Education Project Manager,
UNESCO Iraq-Office, E-mail: s.saadaoui(at)unesco.org, mobile: +962775454702