Establishment of the University of Baghdad

The University of Baghdad in its origins is not only the largest scientific institution in Iraq, but it is the first of its kind from which the faculty members, employees, technical and administrative staff have taken their basic training at a high level and that is something reflected to the spheres of other Iraqi universities that have emerged later, so the university has supported other government academic institutions in the country at a large scale. The University of Baghdad has evolved from the realization of its educational objectives and the growing need to work towards achieving its goals that had become with the obsolescence of time as an important popular demand and which forced governments at the time to keep up with this quest.

In 1943, the first committee was formed to study the possibility of establishing an Iraqi university, so in September 1956 the first resolution was enacted to establish what is called the University of Baghdad. In 1957, the first rector was appointed along with the formation of a constituent council of the university to study the realities of the existing colleges and institutes at the time, in addition to developing necessary changes in its entity while taking into consideration the necessary steps to relate them to the university after fulfillment of basic criteria that guarantee the process of accomplishing an appropriate academic ranking. In 1958, another resolution was enacted stating that the University of Baghdad is having a council to manage its scientific and administrative affairs and that it is comprising of several faculties, namely the Faculties of Law, Engineering, Education, Medicine, Pharmacy, Arts, Commerce, Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. Also the following postgraduate institutes were later attached to the University of Baghdad: Institute of Management Sciences, Institute of Language, Institute of Surveying Engineering, Institute of Higher Industrial Engineering and the Institute of Physical Education.

Due to the increasing development requirements of the country, the University of Baghdad has expanded in terms of student numbers, scientific and technical staff who can be involved in scientific initiatives and activities in other Iraqi cities, particularly in establishing the Faculties of Medicine, Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Forestry, Pharmacy, Humanities, Computer Institute in Mosul, as well as the formation of the Faculties of Education, Law and Engineering in Basra, where early in April 1967, the aforementioned faculties became the foundation for the educational institutions of the Universities of Mosul and Basra. Since its establishment, the University of Baghdad has been responding rapidly to all the requirements of national development plans by increasing the number of students admitted to study diverse knowledge in all disciplines, as well as the development of new faculties, which have so far reached in number twenty-four faculties, four postgraduate institutes in the fields of Urban & Regional Planning, Laser & Plasma, Genetic Engineering, Accounting, Financial Studies and it has consequently witnessed an overall increase in the number of undergraduate and postgraduate students.