VII. Improve Quality and Access to Higher Education

VII. Improve Quality and Access to Higher Education Oversee, reform and reconstruct higher education institutions; Re-integrate the universities in the North; Re-integrate Iraqis with global community; Reform curriculum; and provide access to essential information Saddam’s Legacy The higher education system in Iraq was highly regarded and high performing. In the early 1980s, public funds began to be siphoned off for military expenditures and other priorities of the ruling regime. Combined with the politicization of the education system, which influenced everything from curriculum, teaching, staff, and admission policies, the system went into a steady decline, and by Liberation all schools were closed. Iraq’s 20 universities and 43 technical colleges and institutes faced a similar decline. The looting following liberation compounded an already devastated educational system by destroying many classrooms, libraries, buildings and laboratories. Almost all of the 80 higher education required significant reconstruction. The regime also devastating the human and intellectual resources in the Higher Education sector. Iraqi professors and students themselves were isolated through suffocating procedures Saddam imposed on all aspects of intellectual exchange, particularly prohibitions on international travel by academics. Coalition Partner Activities to Improve Higher Education Sector CPA partners will focus on activities that will: · Rehabilitate the educational infrastructure to meet basic standards and ensure provision of basic educational supplies and tools · Form foundation to return Iraqi education system, enrollment and attendance, especially for females, to its pre-1980s levels For more information, please visit: www.usaid.gov/iraq/accomplishments/education.html www.fulbright.org Coalition Partner Activities to Improve Higher Education Sector CPA partners will focus on activities that will: · Rehabilitate the educational infrastructure to meet basic standards and ensure provision of basic educational supplies and tools · Form foundation to return Iraqi education system, enrollment and attendance, especially for females, to its pre-1980s levels For more information, please visit: www.usaid.gov/iraq/accomplishments/education.html www.fulbright.org