Precedent-setting collaboration with Iraqi government will bring Iraqi students, national leaders to TU

November 8, 2016

In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, Towson University has inked an agreement with the Iraqi government that will bring students, higher education leaders, and members of the Iraqi parliament to TU to learn.

The five-year master agreement is intended to help Iraqi parliamentarians and higher education leaders with professional and curriculum development. It also involves academic programs for degree-seeking Iraqi students.

“Offering short-term training programs in key areas of excellence, and bringing graduate students in selected academic disciplines such as information technology and education, will enhance TU's leadership at the international level,” said Suleha Suleman, assistant vice president for International Initiatives at TU. She cited academic excellence, internationally recognized expert faculty, willingness to share best practices and an interest in expanding international partnerships as the impetus for the agreement.

The initiative begins with leaders; the students will come later. The Embassy of the Republic of Iraq’s Culture Office will recruit and select participants, provide all necessary background information and immunizations, and pay the expenses for those Iraqi leaders, the first cohort of which is scheduled to come to TU for a two-week program in June 2017. A second cohort will come in July.

MP Beriwan Khailany suggested the leadership program after visiting TU in April 2016 to set the stage for the master agreement.

“Women here are leaders,” she said, referring to the number of female administrators at TU—department chairs, deans, assistant and associate vice presidents, vice presidents and the president herself. “Towson University is [largely]  run by women. That’s really something.”

Khailany initially wanted the leadership program to be tailored specifically to women, but other members of parliament and the Committee on Higher Education asked that it be expanded to include men, since most of the administrators in Iraq’s universities are male.

The program will involve a combination of seminars, field trips—including to Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington, DC—and faculty-led projects to enable observation, reflection and mentorship. The Iraqi parliamentarians believe it will help Iraqi leaders understand leadership principles and curricular standards and processes.

Eventually, Iraqi students will come to TU to study, particularly in education and information technology. The agreement plans for a 2+2 program allowing Iraqis to come to TU to complete their degree after two years of study at home. Another initiative would support a 2+2+1 program, which would allow the Iraqi students to stay an extra year past earning their bachelor’s degree in order to earn a master’s degree.

The academic benefit for Iraqi students is both obvious and profound. The nation, said Iraq Culture Office Director of Student Affairs Fatima Hassan, has been stagnated or set back by war for the last 23 years. The University of Baghdad used to be the best university in the Middle East; now it ranks below 20th. The agreement between the Iraqi government and TU means students who come here will have access to technology, research, even libraries at a level that’s impossible to find in Iraqi universities today. Plus, Khailany explained, Iraq has no system or programs for teaching special education; some facilities there teach those with special needs how to function from day to day, but none prepare them for jobs or life outside their homes.

More than the academic benefit, Hassan said, is the cultural understanding that will come as a result of the agreement. Iraqis sometimes have negative views of Americans, she explained, because they feel the warring has been “organized by the big countries.” A 20-year American resident and dual citizen, Hassan wants Iraqi students to understand that the American people don’t hate them.

“Always, when I go to Iraq, I explain this to the people,” said Hassan, who has helped place Iraqi students in colleges and universities across the United States. “Now that I have a chance to bring them here, I feel I have the chance to prove to them that the people are nice."

Equally important, Hassan said, is that TU students may come to appreciate what they currently take for granted.

“Even the students will see how miserable the Iraqi people have been, how hard it is to study, what it means when you don’t have a house.”

Suleman agreed about the mutual value of cultural exposure.

“Opportunities which bring different opinions, cultures, languages, religions and world views to the TU campus are of paramount importance,” she said. “Interactions with Iraqi students and trainees will help dismantle stereotypes, and will enhance our cultural competency related to the Middle East.”

The total number of students that may come for academic programs is as yet undecided. Right now, Suleman said, the Iraqi Cultural Office places about 800 government-sponsored Iraqi students in American institutions.