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Special Report 195 January 2008

United States Institute of Peace

Special Report

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily 

reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace, 

which does not advocate specific policy positions .

Contents 

Introduction 2

xxx A Brief History of Iraqi Higher Education 3

Iraqi Higher Education since 2003 4

International Assistance 6

Recommendations for Reforming Higher Education x 

in Iraq 8

Conclusion 12

About the Report

This report examines the past record, current condition, 

and potential of Iraq’s higher education sector. Iraqis have 

traditionally valued intellectual achievement, but the legacy 

of Baathist rule and the current tide of instability are crippling 

the universities’ ability to function effectively. The future, 

however, could see those universities playing a leading role in 

securing long-term peace.

This report argues that if the security environment improves, 

Iraqi universities could become leading actors in the country’s 

civil society, providing opportunities for faculty and students to 

resolve social and political conflicts, promote political stability 

and economic growth, and build an institutional infrastructure 

able to safeguard human rights. However, if the higher 

education sector is to play this role, it must first introduce 

reforms in such areas as curriculum development, faculty 

education, and administrative procedures.

Imad Harb is a senior researcher at the Emirates Center for 

Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi, United Arab 

Emirates. He was senior program officer in the Education 

program at the United States Institute of Peace and worked 

on developing peace curricula in Iraq and democratizing 

classrooms in Iraqi universities. 

Imad Harb

Higher Education and 

the Future of Iraq

Summary

• Iraq’s higher education sector has the potential to play an important role in 

overcoming the country’s widening sectarian divides and fostering long-term 

peace and stability. As a leading actor within Iraq’s civil society, it could offer 

an institutional venue for resolving the country’s political, social, and economic 

problems while promoting respect for human rights and democratic principles 

both on campus and in the wider society.

• Iraq’s universities flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. However, after the rise of Saddam Hussein to power in 1979, they gradually lost their intellectual dynamism and 

became increasingly politicized in the service of the regime. UN sanctions imposed 

after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 helped to isolate and impoverish the higher 

education sector.

• Universities, many of which were already in poor physical shape, were looted in the 

chaos that accompanied the invasion of 2003. Hundreds of millions of dollars are 

needed to rehabilitate campuses, but the budget for higher education is meager and 

most is earmarked for wages and salaries. Universities have also been hit hard by 

the violence that has followed the invasion. Hundreds of university professors and 

administrators have been killed and thousands have fled abroad.

• Meanwhile, sectarianism has begun to cast a dark shadow over student life. Campuses 

are highly politicized with student organizations vying, sometimes violently, for 

influence. There also has been an increase in religiosity and in efforts, especially in 

the south, to enforce veiling of women and separation of the sexes.

• The dismal situation is made worse by the fact that curriculum materials in all fields 

are in short supply, textbooks are outdated, administrative authority is overcentralized, new students are poorly prepared, and the teaching staff is inadequately 

trained. 

E d u c a t i o n a n d C o n f l i c t
• The international community has made a variety of efforts to support the rejuvenation 

of Iraq’s universities by donating funds, providing expertise, and launching cooperative initiatives. 

• International assistance has been helpful, but if the higher education sector is to 

reclaim its earlier dynamism and play a leading role in national reconstruction, it 

needs a comprehensive program of reform.

• Any package of reforms must emphasize the need to update and expand the curriculum. Universities should embrace new disciplines that will instruct students in conflict 

resolution, reconciliation, intercommunal tolerance, institution building, civil society 

development, women’s studies, democracy, and human rights.

• Another pressing requirement is to give academics and students access to foreign 

scholars and publications through a series of international seminars and workshops 

and via a large-scale program of translating foreign-language books and journals into 

Arabic. Efforts must also be made to train faculty in new technologies and subjects 

and to increase the number of faculty who hold doctoral degrees. Foreign donors and 

governments should also offer scholarships abroad to Iraqi students and professors to 

help alleviate the burden of training a new class of university personnel.

• Like other public-sector institutions, higher education institutions are overcentralized 

and need more freedom to determine their own policies, procedures, and curricula.

• Iraqis cannot accomplish these reforms by themselves. They need the sustained 

support of foreign governments, international bodies, and non-governmental organizations if they are to demonstrate how universities in a divided society can play a 

leading role in promoting civic peace.

Introduction

The higher education sector in Iraq should be an essential part of the country’s effort 

to democratize its political system and modernize its society. Iraqi universities have the 

potential to help resolve the country’s social and political conflicts and provide opportunities for faculty and students to work as agents for social change. Despite a legacy of war 

and authoritarian rule, and despite today dealing with meager resources and severe social 

and political instability, the higher education sector can play a leading role in securing 

long-term civic peace in Iraq. 

At present, however, the intellectual capital of the Iraqi higher education sector—its 

professors and administrators—is coming under attack. Hundreds of professors and scientists have been killed since March 2003, thousands have been forced into exile, and the 

rest are too intimidated to participate in political life, where their expertise and knowledge 

are badly needed. From September 2006 to September 2007 alone, seventy-eight professors were assassinated.1 While this report focuses on the various ways in which the higher 

education sector can contribute to Iraq’s reconstruction, it recognizes that little can be 

accomplished until the security situation improves substantially.

This report has four parts. The first sketches the development of Iraq’s higher education 

sector over the course of a century, paying particular attention to its evolution during 

the long years of authoritarian rule. The second part analyzes the heavy toll exacted by 

violence and instability on Iraq’s universities in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion 

of March 2003. In the third part, the report examines a variety of international programs—including initiatives launched by the United States Institute of Peace—that have 

sought to help the country’s higher education sector improve its curriculum. The fourth 

and longest part presents a series of proposals that together create a framework for reforming Iraqi higher education and enabling it to play a leading role in the development of a 

modern and open society. 

About the Institute

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. Its 

goals are to help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, promote post-conflict peacebuilding, and increase conflict-management tools, capacity, and intellectual capital worldwide. 

The Institute does this by empowering others with knowledge, 

skills, and resources, as well as by its direct involvement in 

conflict zones around the globe.

Board of Directors

J. Robinson West (Chair), Chairman, PFC Energy, Washington, 

D.C. • María Otero (Vice Chairman), President, ACCION International, Boston, Mass. • Holly J. Burkhalter, Vice President, 

Government Affairs, International Justice Mission, Washington, D.C. • Anne H. Cahn, Former Scholar in Residence, 

American University, Washington, D.C. • Chester A. Crocker, 

James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies, School of 

Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 

• Laurie S. Fulton, Partner, Williams and Connolly, Washington, D.C. • Charles Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, 

Washington, D.C. • Kathleen Martinez, Executive Director, 

World Institute on Disability • George E. Moose, Adjunct 

Professor of Practice, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. • Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George 

Mason University, Fairfax, Va. • Ron Silver, Actor, Producer, 

Director, Primparous Productions, Inc. • Judy Van Rest, 

Executive Vice President, International Republican Institute, 

Washington, D.C. 

Members ex officio

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State • Robert M. Gates,

Secretary of Defense • Richard H. Solomon, President, United 

States Institute of Peace (nonvoting) • Frances C. Wilson,

Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps; President, National 

Defense University.
A Brief History of Iraqi Higher Education

Iraqis have traditionally placed a high value on education.2 The country has a long intellectual history dating back to the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, and it enjoyed a 

period of remarkable accomplishments during the early Arab-Islamic empires of the ninth 

century. Iraq’s modern higher education sector dates back a century, when a college of 

law was established in Baghdad in 1908. A number of other colleges and academies were 

established in the city between the 1920s and the 1950s, and in 1960 all were combined 

and chartered as the University of Baghdad. 

The higher education sector flourished in the 1960s and early 1970s. Advances were 

made in both the arts and the sciences. The Iraqi Academy of Sciences became a nexus 

for research in language, history, and literature. The University of Baghdad’s medicine and 

science faculties attracted students from throughout the Arab world. Fueled by oil wealth, 

the universities’ research helped support an aggressive import-substitution drive that 

produced household items, construction materials, and agricultural machinery.

Sadly, political changes undermined the dynamism of Iraqi higher education. As the 

Baathists gradually came to dominate public life after 1968—especially after Saddam 

Hussein became president in 1979—the higher education sector became a venue for 

political correctness, cronyism, corruption, and manipulation of resources to advance the 

regime’s ideology and policies. 

The sector was centralized in 1970 under the control of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR), in the process losing any semblance of academic 

independence. Segments of it remained outside the control of MHESR but only because 

that arrangement served the militaristic aspirations of the regime. The Ministries of 

Defense, of Petroleum and Metals, and of Industry and Military Industrialization and the 

Nuclear Energy Organization each had a claim on the human resources, curricula, and 

acceptance policies of universities and technical colleges. The higher education sector 

quickly found itself obliged to dedicate its research and talents to the political agenda 

of the Baath party.

One of the most damaging ramifications of Baathist control was the brain drain 

inspired by the persecution, imprisonment, and assassination of faculty members and students. Thousands of university professors left to work in neighboring countries or in the 

West. Those who remained in Iraq had to contend with a lack of new research materials 

and a dearth of contacts with the outside world. This situation became especially acute 

after the imposition of UN sanctions following the first Gulf War in 1991.

Overseas travel was soon denied to most academics except those with close ties to 

the regime. Meanwhile, retention and advancement of faculty members became more 

politicized. Those who were close to the regime found lectureships quickly and advanced 

rapidly. Admissions policies were skewed to favor the children of regime personnel (who 

were admitted without any restrictions) and members of pro-regime Arab organizations 

and parties; other would-be students had to meet stringent entrance requirements and 

were pressured to join Baathist organizations. Some universities also received preferential 

treatment. Most, however, had to cope with poorly maintained facilities and buildings, old 

and dilapidated equipment, a lack of technology, outdated journals and books, and low 

faculty salaries. Corruption and isolation affected morale, further damaging performance 

at all levels of education.

Just as Saddam Hussein expropriated public space for grandiose schemes such as 

bridges, monuments, and mosques, he also tried to expropriate Iraqi intellectual history. 

Hussein and his son Uday created a parallel academic system. Uday founded journals 

and institutions, such as the Mother of All Battles Research Center, that competed with 

established ones and promoted the regime’s agenda. In political science and history 

textbooks, Saddam was portrayed as a father figure, a leader, and a hero. Iraqi history 

was manipulated to make it appear that Iraq had not been receptive to Arab nationalist 

thought before the Baathists took power, even though the contrary was the case. Folklore 

During the Saddam years, the 

higher education sector became 

a venue for political correctness, 

cronyism, corruption, and manipulation of resources to advance the 

regime’s ideology and policies.
was appropriated in an ideological drive to make it look more distinctly Iraqi/Mesopotamian and easier for Saddam to manipulate for his own ends.

Saddam’s manipulative and repressive policies did not, however, significantly dent 

Iraqis’ appetite for education. On the eve of the invasion of 2003, Iraq had twenty universities and forty-seven technical institutes under the general management of the MHESR.

Iraqi Higher Education since 2003

According to a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 

survey, in 2004 Iraq’s universities housed two hundred colleges with about eight hundred 

departments and twenty-eight specialized institutes or research centers.3 Only two governorates, Muthanna and Missan (both sparsely populated), were without a university. 

Two new universities (one an American-style private university in Sulaimaniyya and the 

other at Koya) were established subsequent to the overthrow of the Baathist regime. In 

late 2006, the list of Iraqi public universities included Dahuk, Irbil, Sulaimaniyya, Koya, 

Mosul, Kirkuk, Tikrit, Diyala, Anbar, Baghdad, al-Mustansiriyya, Islamic Studies, al-Nahrain, Technology, Qadisiyya, Kufa, Karbala, Thi Qar, Babil, Wasit, and Basra. There also 

are seven private universities in Baghdad and two in Kurdistan (of which the university 

in Sulaimaniyya is one).4

Some official estimates (published by MHESR after 2003) put the number of students 

attending classes at universities, community and nonprofit colleges, and technical institutes and colleges in 2003–04 at nearly 400,000;5 the 2004 UNESCO survey produced a 

lower figure of approximately 250,000, but this tally included only students enrolled at 

universities. Other UNESCO findings included the following: 

• Males accounted for 58 percent of students and 65 percent of faculty, females for 42 

and 35 percent, respectively.

• Nearly 50 percent of all students attended one of Baghdad’s five universities (Baghdad, 

al-Mustansiriyya, al-Nahrain, Technology, and Islamic Studies). 

• Thirty-two percent of students studied education; 28 percent, sciences, engineering, 

and agriculture; 15 percent, law and social sciences; 13 percent, medicine; and 12 

percent, humanities. 

• The academic teaching staff numbered about 19,000, of whom 36 percent had doctorates, 58 percent had master’s degrees, and 6 percent had bachelor’s degrees (and were 

licensed to teach in the technical institutes only).

The relatively rosy picture of post-invasion higher education painted by these data 

is misleading, however; the vast majority of students had enrolled at universities before 

Saddam was overthrown, and most of the growth that has occurred since the invasion 

has been narrow, being concentrated in Baghdad and the north of the country. Moreover, 

although the U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003 ended an authoritarian 

regime that stifled the freedom of the higher education sector, the U.S. intervention has 

failed to create a peaceful environment for the sector’s renewal. In fact, the situation is 

in many ways worse today than before the invasion, with preexisting structural problems 

exacerbated by the disruption, violence, and shortages of the post-invasion years. 

The unchecked looting of state institutions, including universities, research centers, 

museums, and libraries, that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the invasion severely 

affected a sector that was already in poor shape. In a speech in early 2004, Musa alMusawi, president of the University of Baghdad, reported that 70 percent of the university 

and college infrastructure in Baghdad had been destroyed in military operations and subsequent looting.6 A study published by MHESR after 2003 sketches a bleak picture, with 

science labs, libraries, computer centers, student cultural and sports clubs, and boarding 

halls all in dire condition.7 According to the study, there was an immediate need to finish 

building projects begun before the war (at a cost of $356 million) and to start new ones 

(at a cost of $592 million). By the beginning of 2006, only 11 projects out of 279 were 

Higher Education in the North

While the 1990s saw the repression 

of academic freedom in most of Iraq, 

in the north of the country the same 

decade brought intellectual liberation. 

As the three Iraqi northern Kurdish 

provinces gained an autonomous status after the first Gulf War and the 

imposition of a no-fly zone in 1991, 

the universities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyya acquired the independence 

from the MHESR in Baghdad they had 

sought since their establishment in 

1968 and 1981, respectively. The Kurdistan Regional Government established 

the University of Dahuk in 1992 and 

the University of Koya in 2004.

Today, the Iraqi Kurdish region 

boasts a system of higher education 

that educates twenty-two thousand 

students and offers a modern education influenced by contacts with the 

West and conducted in a liberal, mostly 

apolitical atmosphere. Universities in 

the north have been able to capitalize 

on a host of assistance programs from 

American and European governments 

and universities. Academic exchanges, 

curriculum materials, information services, teacher-training programs, and 

other programs have all contributed 

to creating a thriving higher education 

sector. 

The unchecked looting of state 

institutions, after the invasion 

exacerbated the dire conditions 

of the higher education sector.
said to have been finished while 158 others were in progress. MHESR reports that only 

$125 million is approved annually by the central government for infrastructural needs and 

renovations.8 Outside of the north of the country, universities suffer from acute shortages 

of electricity and potable water. Furniture for classrooms, student facilities, and faculty 

offices is lacking. Two thousand scientific laboratories need refurbishing and lack basic 

materials. Libraries are desperate for new books and academic journals. University presses 

are defunct or publish next to nothing. Some classroom textbooks are decades’ old. The 

university system as a whole needs thirty thousand computers (fifteen thousand were 

looted). There are 110 separate Internet networks, and most people can access them only 

in Internet cafes. Few universities have functioning Web sites. 

The decision by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to purge Baathists from 

official life had a tremendous and negative impact on the higher education sector. Many 

university presidents, deans of faculties, and department chairpersons were dismissed, 

even though their expertise was desperately needed in the postwar period. This act helped 

sour relations between U.S. forces and some members of the university community. Many 

Iraqis also interpreted at least some instances of U.S. assistance in educational affairs 

as interference by occupiers. On a more positive note, the early decision by occupation 

forces to allow for free elections for college boards and administrative positions was 

welcomed by Iraqi academics, who were accustomed to outright interference by Baath 

party apparatchiks. More generally, however, the higher education sector, like all other 

public-sector institutions, suffered both from the fluid political environment surrounding 

the Iraqi Governing Council (which was formed by the CPA in early 2004) and from the 

rise of a different group of political elites associated with the myriad newly established 

political parties. 

One of the worst problems facing Iraq’s higher education sector is the acute lack of 

personal security for intellectuals. Estimates of the number of professors, medical doctors, 

and professionals (pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, journalists, and so forth) killed since 

the invasion of 2003 range widely, but all run into the hundreds. Iraq’s University Professors Association reported in 2006 that 80 percent of assassination attempts on the country’s campuses targeted university personnel, that more than half of those killed in these 

attempts were full or assistant professors, and that half of the assassinations occurred 

at the University of Baghdad, with the universities of Basra, Mosul, and al-Mustansiriyya 

also being highly dangerous.9 A representative of the MHESR told National Public Radio’s 

Ann Garrels in January 2007 that the number of professors killed had reached 550.10 (The 

killings have not spared primary and secondary school teachers, three hundred of whom 

were killed in 2006 alone.11) The Brussels tribunal, an antiwar association of intellectuals 

and artists concerned about the fate of Iraqi academics, reports that there seem to be no 

specific reasons behind the killings.

Security concerns are prompting an exodus of academics. Although exact figures are 

unavailable, the number of academics who have fled Iraq since the collapse of the former 

regime is in the thousands.12 One professor in the Department of Political Science at the 

University of Baghdad complained in spring 2006 that it was impossible to hold classes 

because of the presence of militia members who monitor professors’ lectures, that professors are leaving the country as soon as they have a chance, and that their places are being 

filled by MA and PhD students.13 Since 2006, the government has been trying to recruit 

about five thousand Iraqi academics from abroad by raising basic salaries and promising 

more raises in the future.

Poor security is not the only thing disrupting academic life. According to a professor from Mosul University, closed roads and bridges make it very difficult for students to 

attend class, with only one-third typically showing up for their lessons.14 Garrels of NPR 

echoed this figure, reporting that just 30 percent of Iraq’s university students attend class. 

Agence France Presse in February 2007 reported that professors at the University of Baghdad have either given up trying to teach their classes or are arranging for their classes to 

be held just once a week because of professors’ and students’ security concerns.15

One of the worst problems facing 

higher education in Iraq is the continuing assassination and exodus of 

Iraqi intellectuals and professionals.
In personal communications with the author since summer of 2004, Iraqi academics 

have complained of numerous problems, not only difficulties posed by the violence and 

instability that is gripping the country but also long-standing structural problems. These 

academics’ litanies have included bureaucratic inertia and infighting, neglect by feuding 

political leaders, uncertainty, and personal powerlessness in effecting change. Complaints 

have also been voiced about the low quality of scientific research, poor training and 

certification procedures, overcentralization of decision making, inadequate extracurricular 

activities, and poorly prepared students (only 10 percent of secondary schools students go 

to college and of these only a small fraction are adequately prepared for higher education). 

At a UNESCO-sponsored conference on Iraqi higher education held in Paris in February 

2005, a delegation of Iraqi administrators and academics from MHESR and a number of 

universities decried the overall poor quality of the educational enterprise and the lack of 

support from the international community.16

Another concern facing higher education is the politicization of the student body on 

university campuses. Knowing only Baathist authoritarianism that maintained discipline 

on campuses, many student friends and foes of the Baath misunderstood the rules of 

openness introduced in the wake of the invasion and were affected by the swift polarization of society. While student unions on campuses attempt to forge unity among students, 

the rise of sectarianism has created new and deep fissures between student organizations 

that identify themselves as either Shiite or Sunni and that see their interests as mutually antagonistic. These organizations plaster university walls with posters, picket each 

other’s meetings, and sometimes engage in violent confrontations with one another.17 In 

the increasingly charged atmosphere on campuses throughout the country, students (and 

teaching staff) have been threatened or even beaten or killed by fellow students. Sunni 

students, it has been reported, are leaving universities in Baghdad for Mosul (a Sunni city) 

while Shiite students are fleeing Anbar University (in a Sunni area) for the predominantly 

Shiite University of Baghdad.18 Increasing religiosity among students is plain to see, 

especially in the south of the country, where Shiite religious parties are strong. There have 

been many reports that the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI, the 

name has lately been changed to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq), the Islamic Da’wa 

Party, and Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi militia have imposed a religious code on Iraqi universities and society in the south, enforcing veiling for women and separation of the sexes. 

One thing on which many Iraqi university students (except for those at universities 

in the Kurdish north) can agree is their shared opposition to the continued presence of 

U.S. and other foreign forces. For nationalistic as well as other reasons, many students 

are skeptical of foreigners’ intentions and resentful of their presence in Iraq. The occupation of some university facilities by foreign troops during the first postwar year helped to 

foster this animosity. Despite generally civil and respectful behavior by foreign soldiers, 

especially toward female students, Iraqis were uncomfortable with their presence. Now, as 

then, professors who cooperate with American organizations insist on anonymity because 

of fears of appearing to be collaborators.

The news is not all bad. Some student unions have been active in promoting peaceful 

dialogue between students. Of particular importance are two debating societies at the 

universities of Baghdad and Hilla that also produce two student newsletters (al-Jami’ah 

and al-Iraqi, respectively) dedicated to issues that affect student life and promote freedom of expression on campus. Such efforts to lay the foundations for a more peaceful and 

democratic future may pay rich dividends in the future. At present, however, university life 

is characterized far more by discord, disruption, and decay than by dialogue.

International Assistance

Iraq’s higher education sector is woefully underfunded. After the invasion in 2003, the 

MHESR estimated its immediate needs at $1.2 billion, but nothing like that amount was 

Politicization of students on 

campuses is helping to stifle 

academic freedom and forcing a 

segregation of the student body.
made available. The Donors Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq, held in Madrid in 

October 2003, allocated no funds for higher education. In the spring of 2004, when the 

U.S. Congress appropriated $87 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction, the CPA requested $120 

million for higher education but received only $8 million.19 For the 2004–05 academic 

year, total expenditure on higher education was a mere $225 million, and 65 percent of 

that was earmarked for wages and salaries.20

While the overall economic picture is bleak, there are several bright spots in terms of 

international assistance for Iraq’s higher education sector. The following is a list of what 

a variety of foreign organizations—both governmental and non-governmental—have 

donated in funds and in-kind services. 

• The United States Agency for International Development announced in 2003 the 

creation of partnerships between American and Iraqi institutions of higher education 

totaling almost $22 million.21 U.S. institutions involved included the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, the University of Hawaii, DePaul University, 

Jackson State University, and the University of Oklahoma. The Fulbright Scholarship 

Program awarded twenty-six scholarships for Iraqis to study in the United States in 

2004. Another thirty-five scholarships were awarded for 2005.

• The U.S. Departments of State and Defense collaborated over two years to produce 

the Iraqi Virtual Science Library. The library, which came into operation in May 2006, 

provides access to over seventeen thousand online journals to Iraqi academics, engineers, and students at seven universities, one research institution, and all government 

ministries. 

• Other countries have also made donations and supported various aspects of university 

life. For instance, the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit organization led by the First Lady 

of Qatar, established the International Fund for Higher Education in Iraq―managed by 

UNESCO and donated $15 million to be used for teaching supplies, laboratory equipment, and textbooks.22 Further examples include the donation by Saudi Arabia of 

$1 million to finance the opening of a Computer Rehabilitation Project at the 

University of Baghdad; an offer by the British Council to provide administrative expertise and teaching skills training for teachers; and a pledge by the German government 

to assist in rebuilding university campuses.

The United States Institute of Peace has also been actively involved in supporting 

Iraq’s higher education sector. Since 2003, the Institute has been working in Iraq to 

reduce interethnic and interreligious violence, to encourage stabilization and democratization, and to lessen the need for a continuing U.S. military presence in the country. The 

Institute’s Education program focuses on curriculum development and teacher education 

in the areas of conflict resolution and peace education, human rights, and democracy, as 

well as building connections among Iraqi educators and between them and the global 

community of academics. The Institute has supported several such projects in the past 

four years:

• The Institute has helped in the establishment of centers on human rights and conflict 

resolution based both at universities and outside of campuses.

• In a bid to boost professors’ knowledge of the fields of conflict resolution and human 

rights and relevant teaching methodologies, the Institute has sponsored the translation of a variety of texts and curricula and has organized several faculty workshops 

for Iraqi academics on human rights and conflict resolution. 

• In March 2005, the Institute held a conference on the civic mission of the Iraqi 

university. Thirty academics from various universities participated in the conference, 

which produced a plan for enhancing the universities’ involvement in their local 

communities. 

• The Institute helped organize thirteen public education meetings at a dozen Iraqi 

university campuses in September and October 2005 to explain the provisions of 

International governmental and 

non-governmental assistance has 

been forthcoming and welcome 

but more needs to be done.
a new constitution that was about to be the subject of a nationwide referendum. 

University presidents, deans, and faculty members lectured on constitutional issues 

such as federalism, the role of religion in the state, women’s rights, Iraqi identity, 

and economic rights. Local and national newspapers and radio and television stations 

covered and reported on the meetings, which together attracted some twenty-five 

hundred participants. 

• The new constitution was also one of the subjects addressed by participants in 

another Institute initiative: an essay-writing project for Iraqi professors and graduate 

students. In addition to the constitution, essay topics included human rights and 

democracy, the future Iraqi economy, and the role of universities and other educational institutions in the development of a new Iraqi polity. 

• The Institute encouraged an essay contest for secondary school students in Baghdad. 

Entrants were invited to answer the question, “What do I want from the future Iraq?” 

One hundred of Baghdad’s eight hundred secondary schools were contacted and 120 

essays were submitted and judged. The winners received awards in a ceremony—

attended by their parents and school principals—held in May 2006 at the University 

of Baghdad. 

• In 2005, the Institute provided a grant to support the creation of newsletters and 

debating societies at one university in the south.

• Institute-trained facilitators worked in 2004 and 2005 at one university to prevent the 

spread of sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia students by organizing dialogues 

between groups of students and then arranging, with the provincial governor’s permission, a special broadcast on two local television stations about the students’ refusal 

to countenance sectarian violence.

It is a sad commentary on the need for conflict resolution programs that the Institute is 

obliged not to reveal its involvement in most of the activities it sponsors or manages. Were 

the Institute to make its role publicly known, professors, students, and other participants 

in Institute initiatives might find themselves the target of violence from groups bitterly 

opposed to any cooperation between Iraqis and U.S. organizations.

Recommendations for Reforming Higher Education in Iraq

The efforts by the United States Institute of Peace and other foreign organizations and 

governments to strengthen particular facets of Iraqi higher education have achieved some 

success. Professors involved in projects supported by the United States Institute of Peace, 

for instance, have reported an enthusiastic response from both students and faculty and 

have noted that supplies of research and reading materials have been quickly incorporated 

into class syllabi. But if the sector is to reclaim the dynamism it enjoyed in the 1960s and 

1970s and thereby play a leading role in the country’s economic and social reconstruction, 

a full-scale, multifaceted program of reform must be undertaken.

No effort to reform the higher education system in Iraq will succeed without addressing 

the dire security situation on campuses. The insecurity bedeviling colleges and universities, however, is a reflection of the sectarianism and instability that have spread to all 

corners of Iraqi society, and stemming the tide of sectarian violence is obviously not 

something that Iraq’s educational authorities can accomplish by themselves. 

Those authorities also have little or no control over the budget they are allocated by 

the Iraqi government, but they should do what they can to press the case―both with their 

government and with international donors—for a budget large enough to remedy the 

sector’s desperate infrastructural needs. Libraries, laboratories, dormitories, student union 

halls, and administrative offices need to be repaired or built from scratch. Classrooms and 

science labs need furniture and equipment. Internet portals and services need to be con-



The immediate concern for higher 

education is the improvement of 

the security situation on campus 

and in the country at large.
structed and expanded. University printing presses need to be reactivated to encourage 

research and publishing. 

Even a comprehensive program of infrastructural rehabilitation will fail to revive the 

sector if it is not accompanied by a program of reforms that will change what is taught 

at Iraqi universities and how it is taught. This program should emphasize the importance 

of creating modern curricula, retraining teachers and making sure that more of them have 

doctorates, rehabilitating administrative procedures, organizing international seminars 

and workshops, and launching a major effort to translate foreign materials. In all these 

areas, the educational authorities do have the power to effect significant change.

Developing the Curriculum

To help develop the human capital of higher education in Iraq, concerted efforts should 

be made to update and expand university curricula. Textbooks have not changed since 

the 1950s; international academic journals have been scarce since 1984; methods of 

teaching are outdated; and the range of disciplines is too narrow. Science departments, 

for example, need an immediate boost to close the knowledge gap that has existed since 

the 1980s between Iraqi universities and those in some neighboring countries and in the 

West. 

An expansion of the curricula is required not only to enrich campus life but also, 

ultimately, to help Iraqi society reach civic peace. Aside from updating the curricula in 

the traditional disciplines, emphasis needs to be placed on developing curricula in fields 

such as conflict resolution and reconciliation, institutions and institution building, civil 

society, rule of law, women’s studies, and human and civil rights. The teaching of these 

subjects—neglected not just in Iraq but in universities throughout the wider region—will 

help to turn Iraqi universities into centers for civil society development.

Developing these fields requires the involvement of both students and educators, with 

encouragement from their institutions. Iraqi universities could gradually incorporate these 

subjects into existing curricula, establish interdisciplinary departments, or simply require 

students to take elective courses (that would count toward graduation) in those subject 

areas. Iraqi academics could be encouraged to write and teach about these topics and to 

translate foreign-language texts into Arabic for wider dissemination to Iraqi universities.

The curriculum should define key issues, discuss how they can best be taught, and 

provide examples from the distant and near past of countries and communities reaching 

peaceful resolutions to their conflicts (recent examples, for instance, might include South 

Africa’s transitional process from apartheid to an inclusive democracy).

Changes in the curriculum should contribute to the postwar efforts to address the 

transgressions of the former regime and its security and intelligence services. While 

dealing with the legacy of authoritarianism is ultimately a political consideration, Iraqi 

scholars can assist in that task by developing a vocabulary on the subject of truth and 

reconciliation that the Iraqi public can use to enable them to cope with the past.

Curriculum changes should also include the addition of courses on the rule of law and 

the independence of the judiciary from political authority. Iraqi law schools already have 

a strong repertoire of courses and teachers. Under authoritarian rule, however, all legalism 

was political except in relation to common criminal activity. A new emphasis on the rule 

of law will enrich academic life and put academics at the center of a new legal system 

based on equality, fairness, and transparency. The creation of a new body of literature 

through writing and translating will assist in this effort. 

At present, Iraqi curricula do not include women’s studies; to the extent that it is 

addressed, the role of women is dealt with as part of Islamic or family studies. This situation should be rectified by the addition of independent courses on gender issues and on 

women’s roles in politics, religion, literature, culture, law, and the economy. Given that the 

new Iraqi constitution reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for women, professors 

and students might well be ready to accept the addition of women’s rights as a separate 

discipline in the curriculum.

Emphasis needs to be placed on 

developing curricula in fields such 

as conflict resolution and reconciliation, institutions and institution building, civil society, rule of 

law, women’s studies, and human 

and civil rights.
10

Iraqi society is diverse and curriculum reform can help to recapture the country’s tradition of tolerance. Curriculum development here should include a wide space for Kurdish, 

Christian, and Turkmen literature; explain the role of the state in fostering interaction 

and tolerance; and emphasize national cooperation and unity. University personnel can 

encourage the teaching of the disparate historical narratives of these groups. While no 

one should pretend that Iraq’s history is one of unswerving tolerance of minorities, intellectuals should remind all Iraqis that their country can be proud of a history that features 

long periods of cooperation between the different communities. Given the recent upsurge 

in religiosity among students, it may be helpful to draw on religious traditions of peacemaking (both Muslim and Christian) in efforts to promote tolerance and civic peace. 

Finally, curriculum development should concentrate on making Iraqi universities civil 

society actors in their own right, so that they can nurture in their graduates an appetite 

for participation in open political and social debate. To this end, all university personnel 

must be involved in studying and applying basic codes of human and civil rights; they 

must also understand and explain to their students that each individual in a democratic 

and open political culture must exercise civic responsibilities. Universities must not only 

teach democratic principles but also become exemplars of adherence to those principles. 

The results would spur the development of democracy within the country as a whole while 

enhancing the prestige and position of universities within the wider society. 

The process of developing curricula for Iraqi higher education after a long period of 

authoritarianism in which academic activities were limited and channeled toward regime 

legitimization will require careful monitoring and review. To this end, all curriculum 

development activities should be constantly evaluated by both faculty and students to 

ensure that they are appropriate, effective, and necessary. An evaluation and monitoring 

process could include the appointment by the MHESR of a commission composed of its 

representatives, representatives from student organizations, and academics from different 

departments at different universities. This commission could determine the appropriateness of proposed additions to the curricula, promote the adoption of pilot programs (in 

conflict resolution, for example), recommend that innovations that have been introduced 

successfully at some universities be standardized throughout the entire higher education 

system, and monitor the teaching and effectiveness of new subjects over a period of five 

years. At the same time, however, it is important to let individual universities determine 

their own curricula and to resist any calls for mandated curriculum development. 

Improving the Skills and Qualifications of Faculty

Iraq has almost twenty thousand university faculty members, some of whom were persecuted under Saddam, many of whom were silenced, and all of whom were isolated from 

their foreign counterparts and deprived of new research materials and connections. Today, 

they need not only access to foreign contacts and current publications but also various 

kinds of training in: new techniques and technologies, teaching methods and subjects, 

and writing for a new and globalized world of education. Iraqis will also need help from 

foreign scholars to develop the conceptual and substantive understandings of conflict 

resolution and peacemaking required for curriculum reform.

In addition to encouraging such training, the MHESR is keen to increase the percentage 

of Iraqi faculty who hold doctorates from foreign universities. Over the past two decades, 

on average only 36 percent of faculty had doctorates, most of which had been awarded by 

Iraqi institutions. By contrast, in the 1970s and for much of the 1980s Iraq sent most of 

its doctoral students to the West, where they acquired a rigorous education and had access 

to the latest research in their fields. Today, there exists a two-tiered knowledge system: 

on the top tier are the older university faculty members who received PhDs in countries 

such as the United States, Great Britain, and France; on the tier below are teachers who 

graduated from Iraqi universities during the 1990s, a time when international isolation 

diminished the quality of education available within Iraq. If the quality of faculty is to be 

Investing in and training Iraqi 

academics is an essential task 

in developing the higher 

education sector.
11

restored to its earlier levels, the MHESR should allocate sufficient resources to cover the 

cost of sending at least fifty graduate students each year to study in the West. Simultaneously, the MEHSR should strive to enhance the quality of docotoral programs within Iraq 

itself. If the international community were to provide matching funding, the results of 

these external and internal efforts to develop better-qualified faculty would, of course, be 

felt all the more strongly.

Consolidating Academic Freedom

In most Arab countries, universities and academics are restricted in what they can 

research, write, teach, and publish; the weight of regime politics is felt heavily on campuses. Iraq under Saddam was no different, with academics opting to avoid current issues 

or being obliged to repeat government propaganda. The removal of the Baathist regime 

has given Iraqi academics an opportunity to enjoy far greater academic freedom than 

their counterparts in neighboring states. 

If this freedom is to be consolidated, however, Iraq’s professors and instructors need 

to exercise self-restraint while doing nothing to compromise their newfound independence. Thus, for instance, Iraqi academics should be careful not to inflame sectarian and 

political tensions with intemperate speeches and writings (in the same way that U.S. 

academics are careful not to say anything that might be conceived of as homophobic or 

anti-Semitic). Equally, they—and universities as a whole—should scrupulously maintain 

their professional independence from political parties and influences and should establish 

an independent teachers’ union or a higher education professional association funded by 

the academics themselves.

Reforming the Bureaucracy

Educational initiatives will be stillborn if administrative procedures in the MHESR and 

the individual universities are not refurbished. Centralization under the Baath party has 

robbed universities of desperately needed independence to develop new policies and 

courses. Although the current situation is more open and transparent, it is still one of 

bureaucratic centralization around the ministry and of administrative marginalization for 

the universities.

A program of decentralization of decision-making authority would give university 

schools and departments the opportunity to increase the number and variety of courses 

they offer. It would also promote the development of entirely new institutions, independent centers that could be either interdisciplinary or specialized in nature. Interdisciplinary centers could offer diversified coursework, while specialized outfits could provide 

opportunities for both teachers and students to concentrate on nontraditional subjects 

such as conflict resolution. Of course, the establishment of such institutions will depend 

not only on decentralizing bureaucratic authority but also on the government or external 

donors providing the funds to build, staff, and operate the new centers. The obvious corollary of this proposition is a concerted effort to provide more funding for new educational 

initiatives and to enhance the possibilities of outside funding.

Organizing International Seminars and Workshops

If the proposals outlined above are to be translated into practice, then it is important to 

organize a broad range of seminars and workshops at which Iraqi faculty members can 

meet with one another and with foreign academics to discuss exactly what reforms are 

most needed and how they can best be implemented. These meetings, which could be 

conducted either in Iraq or—because of the security situation—in a nearby state, could 

range across a variety of topics such as infrastructural needs, pedagogy, research and publishing, and contacts and exchanges with foreign universities. Numerous teaching issues 

Increasing academic freedom on 

campus and reforming the bureaucracy will greatly help to enrich 

academic life and independence.
12

also present themselves as subjects for discussion: new teaching methods, research needs, 

international exchange, and foreign language training.

Sponsoring Translations

If they are to enrich their academic performance, Iraqi faculty and students need both 

foreign language training and Arabic translations of materials from all subjects. Translating 

a large quantity of journals, reports, and papers will require a strong financial commitment 

from international partners and actors, including the Arab League, the United States, the 

European Union, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and individuals.

Conclusion

While all sectors of Iraqi society have a role to play in resolving the country’s daunting 

social, economic, and political problems, the role of the higher education sector is especially important. By committing itself as a civil society actor and devoting its energies to 

renovating its curricula and training its faculties, higher education in Iraq can help lead 

the way in the quest for democracy and education. It can also spur the country’s economic 

development, for universities can play a vital role in improving scientific and technological education, business and management training, and public administration.

To be sure, there are formidable obstacles to be overcome, not least the dangerous 

security situation, the lack of resources, overcentralization of decision making, and the 

uncertainties of a new political atmosphere. But Iraqi universities possess significant 

assets that they can employ in the effort to shed the legacy of authoritarianism, restore 

the dynamism that characterized higher education in the 1960s and 1970s, and create a 

vibrant, tolerant, and participatory democracy both on campus and in the wider society. 

Chief among these assets are the strong work ethic and intellectual integrity of Iraqi academics, coupled with their desire to commit themselves to the enterprise of developing 

a modern and democratic Iraq. 

Iraqis cannot accomplish this alone, however. They need the committed support of 

international actors, including the Arab League, the United States, the United Nations, the 

European Union, European countries, and international organizations, to assist in securing 

resources, materials, and expertise for the reform of Iraq’s higher education system. In 

an interdependent world, helping Iraq’s universities play a central role in educating Iraqi 

society and securing social peace will have a positive effect not only in Iraq but also in 

other countries facing similar challenges. 

By committing itself as a civil 

society actor and devoting its 

energies to renovating its curricula and training its faculties, 

higher education in Iraq can help 

lead the way in the quest for 

democracy and education.
13

Notes

1. The figure was derived from a list of university personnel killed, posted on the Web site of the 

Brussels Tribunal at www.brusselstribunal.org.academicslist.html.

2. Eric Davis writes of “Iraqis’ persistent education on education.” See Eric Davis, Strategies for Promoting 

Democracy in Iraq, Special Report no. 153 (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, October 

2005), http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr153.html. Also in Arabic at http://www.usip.org/pubs/

specialreports/sr153_arabic.pdf. Parts of this section are based on Davis’s report.

3. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Iraq: Education in Transition, 

Needs and Challenges (Paris: UNESCO, 2004).

4. Mu`id Fayyadh, “Iraqi Minister of Higher Education: ‘We Will Not Stop Teaching at Our Universities’” (in 

Arabic), al-Sharq al-Awsat, November 15, 2006.

5. Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR), Strategies of the Iraqi Ministry of Higher 

Education and Scientific Research (Baghdad: MHESR: n.d. [but post-2003]). 

6. Hameed Abdallah, “Minister of Higher Education Speaks” (in Arabic), Akhbar al-Khaleej, December 17, 

2004.

7. MHESR, Strategies.

8. MHESR, “Special Report on the 100-Day Plan of MHESR, January 2006,” www.moheiraq.org/

acco%20Establish.htm.

9. Mohammad al-Hourani, “Iraqi Academics: Between the American Hammer and the Israeli Anvil” (in Arabic), al-Fikr al-Siyasi (Political thought) 8, no. 24 (2006). Cited in Salman BuNoaman, “Assassinating Iraqi 

Minds: Goals and Intentions” (in Arabic), Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN), September 26, 2006.

10. All Things Considered, National Public Radio, January 29, 2007.

11. Public Broadcasting Service, The Online Newshour, “Iraq in Transition,” February 12, 2007, www.pbs.org/

newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/iraq/jan-june07/infrastructure_02-12.html.

12. Katherine Zoepf, “Iraq’s Intellectuals Are Marked for Death, Human-Rights Groups Say,” Chronicle of Higher 

Education, June 29, 2006, http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/06/2006062904n.htm. PBS reported on 

February 12, 2007, that the Brookings Institution estimates that 40 percent of professionals have fled the 

country. PBS, The Online Newshour, “Iraq in Transition.”

13. Peter Beaumont, “Iraq’s Universities and Schools Collapse as Teachers and Pupils Flee,” Guardian (London), 

October 5, 2006.

14. Ibid.

15. Michaela Cancela-Kieffer, “Death Batters at the Doors of Iraq’s Universities,” Agence France Presse, 

February 27, 2007.

16. The conference was titled “Roundtable on the Revitalization of Higher Education in Iraq,” and was held 

on February 22–23, 2005, at UNESCO Headquarters.

17. Oliver Poole, “Student Extremism Brings Violence and Chaos to Iraqi Universities” Daily Telegraph (London), 

January 9, 2006.

18. Cancela-Kieffer, “Death Batters at the Doors.”

19. Christina Asquith, “With Little More than Hope, Iraqi Colleges Try to Rebuild,” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 13, 2004.

20. MHESR, Strategies.

21. USAID press releases, October 3 and December 2, 2003.

22. Daniel del Castillo, “Qatar Foundation Gives $15 Million to Reconstruct Iraqi Higher Education,” Chronicle 

of Higher Education, October 31, 2003.


United States 

Institute of Peace

1200 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20036

www.usip.org

An online edition of this and related 

reports can be found on our Web site 

(www.usip.org), together with additional 

information on the subject.

Of Related Interest

Other publications from the United States Institute of Peace examine issues related to 

Iraqi society and security and to the role of education in conflict and reconstruction.

Recent Institute Special Reports include

• Iraq and the Gulf States: The Balance of Fear, by Jon Alterman (August 2007).

• Ayatollah Sistani and the Democratization of Post-Ba’athist Iraq, by Babak Rahimi 

(June 2007).

• Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq, by Robert M. Perito (March 2007).

• Iraq’s New Political Map, by Phebe Marr (January 2007).

• Jordan and Iraq: Between Cooperation and Crisis, by Scott Lasensky (December 

2006).

• Scenarios for the Insurgency in Iraq, by Alan Schwartz (October 2006).

For a full list of the dozens of reports, press briefings, and working papers on Iraq issued 

by the Institute, visit http://www.usip.org/iraq/reports.html.

Recent books and articles from USIP Press include:

• Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom, by Mohammed

 Hafez (July 2007).

• “Addressing Conflict through Education,” by Pamela Aall, Jeffrey Helsing, and Al

Tidwell, in I. William Zartman, ed., Peacemaking in International Conflict, revised 

edition (November 2007).