UAB establishes contacts with Kurdistan universities

A delegation of rectors from nine universities and scientific institutions in Iraqi Kurdistan visited the UAB on 10 April to explore ways to help Kurdish master's and PhD students to spend study periods at the Autònoma. The meeting also served to present a new research direction in archaeology led by Miquel Molist, chair of the Department of Prehistory at the UAB.

11/04/2013

The educational system in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan is undergoing reforms aimed at better preparing its students for professional life. With this objective in mind, the regional government is forging links with the world's top universities and offering many scholarships to enable Kurdish students to take master's and PhD degrees abroad.

In April 2011, the UAB signed an initial collaboration agreement with Salahaddin University-Erbil. Now, this university and eight other institutions are seeking to establish a framework for cooperation with the UAB. The aim is to help Kurdish students to join master's and PhD programmes at the UAB through the scholarships awarded by the Kurdish regional government. It is hoped that these students will be able to carry out six-month study periods at the UAB.

The delegation was received by UAB officers, headed by the rector, Ferran Sancho, who highlighted the similarities between the higher education systems of Kurdistan and Catalonia and welcomed this "opportunity to get to know each other" and "build up collaboration".

For his part, Dr Salahalddin Saeed Ali, who headed the Kurdish delegation, spoke about Kurdistan's situation and about the educational system in the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, the majority of whose 24 universities are "very new". Dr. Saeed Ali also dealt with the project to promote quality within these institutions by firmly committing to internationalisation, aiming in particular at European countries, Egypt, North America and East Asia.

The UAB delegation then went on to describe the main characteristics of the Spanish university system, graduate studies at the UAB, the UAB Campus of International Excellence and the UAB Research Park. The Kurdish rectors showed great interest in establishing mechanisms to allow both students and teaching and research staff to carry out study periods at the UAB, and invited the UAB representatives to visit Kurdistan to learn about its academic institutions.

New archaeological research project

Miquel Molist, chair of the Department of Prehistory at the UAB, and the researcher Anna Gómez were present at the meeting in order to present the research project they will undertake in Iraqi Kurdistan in collaboration with the University of Salahaddin.This project, which will take place in the area of the River Tigris, is a continuation of work done previously at other sites in Syria and Turkey, exploring the origins of agricultural societies.