The University of Baghdad hosted the annual conference of the Arab Universities Union and assumed the head of the current session of the union in its fifty-sixth edition, coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the union’s establishment. The event was attended by ambassadors from Arab countries, representatives of Arab ministers of higher education, university presidents, and a number of Arab and foreign academic elites.
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Niam Al-Aboudi, stated that Iraq has succeeded in overcoming the dark years of terrorism and has embarked on opening up to international educational institutions. It has received recognition from major international institutions for its scientific outputs in terms of students and research. He pointed out that one of the most prominent projects is the unprecedented educational transformation towards the international Bologna process, calling for the establishment of an Arab education zone to expand the scope of collaboration among Arab universities.
In turn, the President of the University of Baghdad, Prof.Dr.Bahaa Ibraheem Ansaf, mentioned that the university has begun the initial steps of integration with the Arab Universities Union project through the launch of the “Study in Iraq” initiative, aimed at attracting a number of Arab students. Additionally, the university has accomplished several scientific and academic research projects in cooperation with Arab universities, and their findings have been published in joint scientific journals.
In a speech, the Secretary-General of the Arab Universities Union, Prof.Dr. Amr Ezzat Salama, praised the significant efforts made by Iraq in organizing the Arab Universities Conference. He noted that this edition of the conference was conducted in a manner befitting the historical and cultural role of the capital, Baghdad. He emphasized the launch of a series of joint projects between Iraqi and Arab universities aimed at developing the educational infrastructure of the Arab world and fostering collaborative efforts to overcome future challenges in education.
