IPS:EDUCATION: Kurdish state univer

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

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Subject: IPS:EDUCATION: Kurdish state university

/* Written 12:03 am  Nov  6, 1992 by newsdesk at igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "EDUCATION: Kurdish 'state' universi" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Asia, southern
Title: EDUCATION: Kurdish 'state' university reopens in Iraq


an inter press service feature

by john roberts

suleymaniyah, nov 03 (ips) -- upstairs, in the rooms that once
housed the local headquarters of the iraqi secret police, the new
university of suleymaniyah plans to open its medical faculty --
forming part of the new kurdish mini-state's new university.

in two weeks time, on nov. 15, the university of suleymaniyah
will open its doors for the first time in more than ten years and
its administrators are now busy sending out letters to academic
institutions abroad to secure recognition of its status.

so far, says registrar ali hasan saber, the voluntary team
working on the project has raised 2.5 million iraqi dinars (around
120,000 dollars) for the project.

much of it has been raised privately from the citizens of
suleymaniyah, though the leaders of the main kurdish political
parties, jalal talabani and masoud barzani, have also contributed
a large proportion of the cost.

at the university site in the north of the city, a cluster of
buildings, part of the campus of the original university but taken
over by the iraqi authorities in 1981, is being renovated.

new lighting is being installed, the lecture theatres are being
refurbished and paint, a scarce commodity that has to be imported
from iran, brightens the rooms where the mukhabarat (secret
police) once struck fear into the hearts of ordinary citizens.

the university will initially have three faculties: medicine,
agriculture and languages. more than 50 members of staff have
already been hired, many of them with first or second degrees from
institutions in the united states or western europe.

about 400 students have already been accepted, some will be
starting university for the first time. others are kurds who
previously studied at iraq's other main universities in baghdad,
basra and mosul.

''we are starting from zero. we have got nothing,'' says saber.
''we need books, typewriters, calculators, cars. above all, we
need basic laboratories.''

the university is getting administrative help from another
university already functioning in kurdish iraq, at salahuddine. it
is also being assisted by a us agricultural specialist, dr. jamal
fouad, who is seeking to develop links between the new institution
and north american agricultural institutions. (more/ips)

education: kurdish 'state' university reopens in iraq(2-e)

education: kurdish 'state' (2)

the university aims very much to be a practical centre. its
officials emphasise on the school of agriculture because
suleymaniyah is in the heart of kurdistan's naturally rich
farmland, and because it wants to set up an agricultural extension
service so that farmers can learn how to improve crop strains and
benefit from technological innovations.

physical reconstruction is being supervised by the former chief
engineer of suleymaniyah nowruz mohammed sayid. now the mayor of
suleymaniyah, he has a special connection with the university, as
he was in charge of building much of the campus 15 years ago.

in those days, the campus had seven faculties, including
engineering, education, administration, arts and science as well
as medicine and agriculture. but in 1981 the government suddenly
closed the university and moved its students to irbil to punish
the city for supporting the peshmerga kurdish guerrillas.

when the iraqi army pulled out of suleymaniyah seventeen months
ago, they set fire to many of the buildings and the university's
kitchens still carry scorch marks under thick layers of new paint.

sayid says his biggest problem is getting such basic items as
glass and fluorescent lights. ''all the glass comes from iran. one
square metre of glass in baghdad would cost just ten dinars (50 us
cents). here we have to pay 170 dinars.'' but, unlike other
buildings in suleymaniyah, the glass is being installed.

both the mayor and the registrar have discussed the project with
visiting officials from the us agency for international
development and are hopeful of international support for the
project.

they have written to the u.n. education, scientific and cultural
organisation (unesco) to seek external recognition, though any
response is not expected to be quick. but they believe they can
maintain high academic standards.

when the iraqi government refused to send this year's
baccalaureate examination papers to high schools in the kurdish
region, the kurdish authorities drew up their own papers and asked
educational specialists from the united nations children's fund to
compare the kurdish and the baghdad papers.

''they were very happy,'' says dr. saber. ''on the strength of
these results, we received 35 scholarships from italy and some
more from france, so our examinations were successful.''

one iraqi practice that the new university will be keeping is
very much designed to ensure that the revived university of
suleymaniyah can quickly secure general international acceptance:
apart from the language school, all its instruction will be in
english. (end/ips/ce/jmr/rj/92)