Opening of New Internet Center at Salahaddin University in Arbil

NORTH ARBIL, IRAQ May 29, 2004 Contact: CPA North (Arbil) Public Affairs Office, Tim Standaert, 223-2811/2810 (local), 008821621707928 (Thuraya), or Hemen Hawramy, ahemn2001@yahoo.com , 760-4555 (local cell). Opening of New Internet Center at Salahaddin University in Arbil Funded with $40k from Coalition Provisional Authority ARBIL, NORTHERN IRAQ. Salahaddin University in the city of Arbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan region opened its first internet center and classroom on May 25. The Coalition Provisional Authority office in Arbil funded the internet center with $40,000 covering the cost of 24 computers, a server, internet connection and other supplies and materials. The president of Salahaddin, Dr. Mohammad Sadik Khoshnau, and the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in northern Iraq, Regional Coordinator Dr. Liane Saunders, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the College of Education. A good number of students have access to the Web at internet cafes in town, but no internet center existed on the campus of the university. Dr. Saunders noted that the internet was just one more way for the students of Iraq as a whole and this region in particular to reconnect with the rest of the world after years of war and dictatorship. Noting the high temperature in the room, she promised CPA would additionally pay for air conditioning units for the center. Citing cooperation between CPA and the university, Dr. Mohammad thanked Dr. Saunders for the computer center, as well as a $40,000 grant for the purchase of new books for the university’s libraries. He made a pitch for continued support for Arbil’s main educational institution and its 15,000 students. Salahaddin University sent students to the US earlier this year as Fulbright Scholars, the first group of Iraqis to take part in this program in fourteen years. Another student will be taking part in the Middle East Partnership Initiative summer program in American Studies at Georgetown University in July and August. Contact for the internet center at Salahaddin University: Ms. Khwazbeen Fattah, khwazbeen@yahoo.com .