Jul 5 2012

Iraqi universities to admit 290,000 students

By Adel Kadhem

Azzaman, July 5, 2012

Iraqi universities are to admit all high school graduates in a move seen to bolster science, technology and arts in the country, according to a senior Higher Education ministry official.

The official, Nasser al-Jibouri, the ministry’s general inspector, said three more universities are to be established by the start of this year’s academic calendar in September “to accommodate all the 290,000 high school graduates.”

There are currently 30 universities in Iraq but standards are said to have dwindled due to the fleeing of some top professors and scientists.

The exodus of Iraqi intelligentsia started during the rule of former leader Saddam Hussein but was exacerbated in the aftermath of the 2003-U.S. invasion.

Scores of universities professors have been killed since the invasion and many others were kidnapped and only released after paying heavy ransom

“No student applying for university education shall be turned away,” declared Jibouri.

Many Iraqi universities run evening classes to help civil servants and people with jobs to complete their studies.

Iraqis are given to education and evening classes are reported to be packed with people of different ages and jobs.

The relative quiet in the country in the past few years and the surge in benefits and salaries to university faculties is reported to have tempted many professors who had fled Iraq to return home.

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