This week’s briefs — Good bye to our guests: Three US

This week’s briefs: Good bye to our guests: Three US university presidents who spent eight days with us bid farewell. While here, they conducted assessments of the universities in Iraq and will be reporting back to their respective university associations, AAU, ACE, and NASULGC. Thank you Dr. Ray Bowen of Texas A&M University, Dr. Lattie Coor from Arizona State University, and Dr. Greg O’Brien from the University of New Orleans for your sacrifice and dedication in coming to Iraq on such short notice to conduct such an important mission. New Iraqi Interim Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research: I Ir ra aq q W We ee ek C CP PA A M Mi in ni is st tr ry y o of f H Hi ig gh he er r kl ly y U Up pd da at te e H Hi ig gh he er r E Ed du uc ca at ti io on n T Te ea am m C Cu ur rr re en nt t P Po ol li ic ci ie es s http://www.cpa-iraq.org/ministries/higher _ E Ed du uc ca at ti io on n & & a an nd d I In ni it ti ia at ti iv ve es s, , education.html I Is ss su ue e7 7, , S Sa at tu ur rd da ay y, , team arranged a meeting with the leaders of all the major institutions of higher education during the Advisory Council meeting last Saturday. Iraqi presidents clearly articulated the resources required for them to rejoin the academic and scientific community around the world. Following the Advisory Council meeting, the CPA MHESR team escorted our guests to visit the universities in Northern Iraq. The highlight of our trip up north included meeting the Prime Minister, the Minister of Higher Education, Presidents of all three Kurdistan Universities, and deans, faculty and students of Sulaimaniyah University. Their trip closed with a visit to Mosul University where the team met with the Chancellor and the faculty. A tour of the campus was provided as well as a visit to the Nineva ruins. Prior to heading back home, the three guests visited with the MG Petraeus, Commanding General of 101st Infantry Division. A highlight with the CG was they received a CG’s coin. We hope that during their visit they gained a vital on-the-ground perspective of the current needs of Iraq higher education and that they will become ambassadors for Iraqi higher education upon their return to the their universities and to the United States. S Sc ci ie en nt ti if fi ic c R Re es se ea ar rc ch h 6 6 S Se ep pt te em mb be er r 2 20 00 03 3 components. MHESR will work closely with KOICA to properly train the technicians to manage the Internet Centers and all its contents. MHESR would like to thank AMB Hahn and KOICA for their generous offer and we look forward to working closely with everyone involved. University Reconstruction Effort: The Iraqi Governing Council has selected, Dr. Zeiad Abdule-Razzak. Aswad as the new Iraqi Interim Minister. Dr. Zeiad is a Petroleum Engineer and received B.Sc from University of Baghdad, M.Sc from University of Southern California and Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma. Prior to coming to the ministry, he was a faculty member at the College of Engineering, University of Baghdad. He was a member and a chairman of various scientific committees in the university and even served as a Department Chairman of Petroleum Engineering in the early 1990’s. Dr. Zeiad has published numerous scientific papers and books. His research interests include Oil Well Drilling Technology (Vertical, Directional and Horizontal Drilling); Multi-Phase Flow Through Pipes, Annuli and Chokes; Application of Optimization Techniques; Enhanced Oil recovery Methods; and Oil & Gas Production Systems. We all look forward to working closely with Dr. Zeiad. Using the much needed budget from academic year 03, the majority of the universities are hard at work refurbishing their campuses. Some universities are working 24 hours a day to improve the buildings around the campus. With all the work that’s being done, it’s hard to recognize some of the campuses. CPA MHESR’s goal is to make significant positive physical changes around the campus so that students won’t recognize the campus they left in July. Below is “During” picture of the Electrical Engineering department at the University of Technology. You saw “Before” picture last week. I’ll send “After” picture in next week’s newsletter. Generous Gift from South Korean Government Visit from US university presidents: The CPA higher education team worked closely with Peter McPherson and Charles Greenleaf from the CPA Finance team to arrange the visit of three US university presidents. Beyond visiting all major universities in Baghdad, the CPA MHESR Acting Senior Advisor LTC (Dr.) Stephen Curda met with Ambassador Young Hee Hahn with the South Korean delegation representing the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). AMB Hahn and the South Korean government have pledged to support the Iraqi higher education system. Their generous offer includes Internet Centers for all universities in Iraq. They will also provide Internet Centers for each of the colleges in Baghdad area universities. Internet Centers will include, satellite dish for receiving signal, router, 20-25 computers, 2 printers and numerous software packages and hardware New Opportunities for Foreign Study CPA MHESR has been focusing this section on exchange programs I Ir ra aq q W We ee ek C CP PA A M Mi in ni is st tr ry y o of f H Hi ig gh he er r E Ed du uc ca at ti io on n kl ly y U Up H Hi ig gh he er r pd da E Ed du uc ca at ti io on n at te e T Te ea am m C Cu ur rr re en nt t P Po ol li ic ci ie es s a an nd d I In ni it ti ia at ti iv ve es s, , http://www.cpa-iraq.org/ministries/higher_education.html and travel abroad. Since CPA MHESR had our first student to travel abroad, we dedicate this section to her and let her tell us about her experience in her own words: My name is Saja Shaheen, I participated in the 14th International Youth Forum in South Korea, the forum organized by the National Council of Youth Organizations in Korea (NCYOK), and the International Work Camp Organization (IWO), sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in cooperation with the Asian Youth Council (AYC) and the World Assembly of Youth (WAY). The forum was under the theme of “The Helm of Society Towards World Peace,” and was held August 18th to 24th in Seoul, Republic of Korea. There were more than 100 participants from different nations. We shared our thoughts and exchanged our ideas in the land of the morning calm. We discussed conflicts and disruptions in globalization, the role of the UN and international cooperation and the responsibilities of NGOs for world peace and youth education. I received important information from this forum in addition to visiting a foreign country for the first time. I presented the participants with the situation in Iraq and what my country has suffered for a long time. It was a great adventure through the different language, culture and technological progress, the people there were so nice and simple and they liked my message in the opining ceremony which I stated that “I wished always to live in a peaceful world, full of prosperity and peace for everybody, if we can live without any discrimination and religious conflicts, that will be great.” Finally I would like to thank the CPA Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research for helping me in this forum and to the South Korean embassy in Baghdad for choosing me. & & S Sc ci ie en nt ti if fi ic c R Re es se ea ar rc ch h I Is ss su ue e7 7, , S Sa at tu ur rd da ay y, , 6 6 S Se ep pt te em mb be er r 2 20 00 03 3 Events Calendar: September 13 – Advisory Council Meeting, Hosted by University of Technology