# University of Baghdad

The University of Baghdad (UOB) (Arabic: جامعة بغداد, also known as Baghdad University) is a public research university in Baghdad, Iraq. It is the largest university in Iraq and the tenth largest in the Arab world.

## History

The College of Islamic Sciences claims that it originated in 1067 A.D. as Abu-Haneefa. The College of Law, the earliest of the modern institutions that were to become the first constituent Colleges (i.e. Faculties) of the University of Baghdad, was founded in 1908.
The College of Engineering was established in 1921; the Higher Teachers Training College and the Lower College of Education in 1923, the College of Medicine in 1927, and the College of Pharmacy in 1936. In 1942, the first higher institution for girls, Queen Alia College, was established. In 1943, proposals for further new Colleges appeared, leading to the foundation of the College of Arts and the College of Science in 1949, and Abu Ghraib College of Agriculture in 1950.
The university building was commissioned by the Royal Government of Iraq in the late 1950s and is located on the banks of the Tigris River. Its buildings were designed by Walter Gropius, Louis McMillen, and Robert McMillan, of The Architects' Collaborative, and were made from 1959 to 1960. The architects master plan for a new university campus, included the Schools of Engineering, Science, and Liberal Arts, for a total of 6,800 students.
The campus was expanded in 1982 to accommodate 20,000 students. Architects Hisham N. Ashkouri and Robert Owen developed the academic spaces program for the entire campus.
Baghdad University suffered from the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation, with more than 90% of its students dropping out of some classes.
In September 2018, the university was listed in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, a yearly classification of the best 1,250 universities in the world, for the first time.

## Presidents

Below is a list of the current and former presidents of the University:
* Dr. Matti Aqrawi — 5 October 1957 – 1 August 1958
* Dr. Abdul Jabbar Abdullah — 19 March 1959 – 8 March 1963
* Dr. Abed Al-Azeez Al-Duri — 10 February 1963 – 27 November 1965 and 10 September 1966 – 7 August 1968
* Dr. Jassem Mohammad Al-Kallaf — 9 September 1968 – 8 August 1970
* Dr. Abed Allatif Al-Badry — 8 August 1970 – 1 March 1971
* Dr. Saad Abed Al-Bakki Al-Rawi — 15 June 1971 – 23 January 1974
* Dr. Taha Ibrahim Al-Abdalla — 14 March 1974 – 15 October 1977
* Dr. Sulttan Abed Al-Kader Al-Shawi — 18 October 1977 – 1 March 1978
* Dr. Taha Tayh Diab Al-Ne'ami — 30 June 1980 – 27 December 1990
* Dr. Adil Shakir Al-Tai — 10 July 1990 – 28 February 1991
* Dr. Khidir Jasim Al-Duri — 1 March 1991 – 10 November 1993
* Dr. Abed Al-Iillah Yossif Al-Kashab — 14 November 1993 – 7 June 2001
* Dr. Mohammad Abed Allah Falah Al-Rawi — 12 June 2001 – 30 April 2003
* Dr. Sammi Abed Al-Mahdi Al-Mudaffar — 24 May 2003 – 28 September 2003
* Dr. Musa Juwad Aziz Al-Musawi — 28 September 2003 – 20 November 2012
* Dr. Alaa Abdulrasool Alkashwan — 20 November 2012 – 13 May 2019
* Dr. Qusi Alsuhil — May 2019 – December 2019
* Dr. Emad Hussein Mirza — December 2019 – August 2020
* Dr. Munir Hameed Al-Saadi — August 2020 – January 2024
* Dr. Prof. Dr. Bahaa Ibraheem Ansaf — 3 January 2024 – present

## Campuses
### Al-Jadriya campus

* College of Engineering
* Al-Khwarizmi College of Engineering
* College of Science
* College of Political Science
* College of Physical Education
* College of Science for Women
* College of Education for Women
* Institute of Laser for Postgraduate Studies
* Institute of Urban and Regional Planning
* Institute of Genetic Engineering
* Institute of Accounting & Financial Studies
* College of Agricultural

### Bab Al-Muadham campus

* College of Medicine
* College of Dentistry
* College of Pharmacy
* College of Nursing
* College of Education – Ibn Rushd
* College of Arts
* College of Languages
* College of Information
* College of Islamic Sciences

### Al-Waziriya campus

* College of Physical Education for Women
* College of Law
* College of Administration, Business and Economy
* College of Education – Ibn Al-Haytham
* College of Fine Arts
* College of Veterinary

### Nahda CrossRoad

* Al-Kindi College of Medicine

## Notable alumni

* Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak - Prime Minister of Yemen
* Mohammed Alkobaisi – Islamic scholar
* Hisham N. Ashkouri – architect
* Serwan Baban – Minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government
* Venus Faiq (born 1963), Iraqi-Kurd Dutch writer, journalist, and poet.
* Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz – former Prime Minister of Iraq
* Muzaffar Al-Nawab – Iraqi poet and writer
* Emad Zaki Yehya – international petroleum consultant and former president of Reservoir Engineering in the Ministry of Oil
* Saadoun al-Dulaimi – former Iraqi Defense Minister
* Salwa Jarrah – author and BBC Arabic broadcaster
* Ghanim Al-Jumaily – Professor of Engineering at Southern New Hampshire University; former Ambassador of Iraq to Saudi Arabia
* Ghassan Muhsen – diplomat and artist
* Ahmad Obeidat – former Prime Minister of Jordan
* Sinan Al Shabibi – former Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq
* Rihab Taha – biological weapons chief
* Jalal Talabani – former President of Iraq
* Abdurrahman Wahid – former President of Indonesia
* Donny George Youkhanna – archaeologist
* Muntadhar al-Zaidi – journalist
* Hashim Jasin – spiritual leader (Shura Council) of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party
* Suad Jawad – "The Queen of Dubbing"
* Aqeel al-Mosawi – dentist, novelist, and photographer
* Hazim Abdallah Khedr - historian and researcher specialized in Andalusian Arabic literature.
* Mushtak Al-Atabi - professor of mechanical engineering

## Notable development consultants

* Cyril Saunders, UNESCO Library Development consultant, 1952–1955
* Harold Bonny, UNESCO Library Development consultant, 1957–1958
* Donald Powell (University of Arizona), USAID/ICA Library Development consultant at Abu Ghraib College, 1957
* William S. Dix (Librarian, University of Princeton), Ford Foundation Library Development consultant, 1958
* Des Raj Kalia, UNESCO Library Development consultant, 1959–1960
* Stephen Ford (University of Michigan) and Paul Kebabian (New York Public Library), Ford Foundation Library Development consultants, 1961–1962.
* Rudolph Gjelsness (Professor and Head of the Department of Library Science, University of Michigan), Ford Foundation Library Development consultant, 1962–1963
* David T. Wilder (University Librarian, University of Michigan – Oakland), Ford Foundation Library Development consultant, 1965–66
* Anand P. Srivastava (Head of the Department of Library Science, University of Rajasthan), UNESCO consultant, Graduate School of Library Science, 1968–1973
* Khalil M. H. Al-Shamma', Former Dean, College of Administration, Business and Economy, Reorganization of the University of Baghdad and The Higher Education sector, 1969, Donated his rich personal library with its complete furniture to the Central Library of the University of Baghdad /Al-Jadriya Campus 2012.