Here you will find all the information about the six Partnership Programs that are part of the DAAD German-Iraqi University Partnerships scheme: the Technical University Berlin, the Technical University Dortmund, the University Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg and the University of Leipzig and their numerous counterparts in Iraq.

The Centre for International and Intercultural Communication (ZiiK), part of the Technical University Berlin, under the direction of Dr. Nazir Peroz, has launched its programme as part of the DAAD German-Iraqi University Partnerships scheme. The expertise of the ZiiK is to be put to use in a programme for the “Building of a sustainable and secure IT system for Iraqi universities.” The ZiiK is particularly well-placed to carry out this partnership project, due to its 20 years experience working in the area of IT all around the world, but particularly in developing countries. The ZiiK has successfully tapped into the resources of the Iraqi community in Berlin, too. A workshop was held in December 2009 for example, to which Iraqi residents in Berlin were invited. The aim of the workshop was to enter into dialogue with Iraqis living in exile in Germany as well as Iraqi IT students in Germany. Among other topics, the possibilities the participants saw for their personal involvement in supporting the rebuilding of the Iraqi university system were discussed. Representatives of various German universities also participated in the workshop.

BEEP is the catchy acronym for the University of Erlangen’s programme and stands for the Baghdad-Erbil-Erlangen-Project. It is a partnership between the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Baghdad, Al-Mustansiriyah (Baghdad) and Salahaddin (Erbil). The director of the CIS and leader of the BEEP is Professor Sefik Alp Bahadir. The aim of the Center for Iraq Studies in Erlangen is to support the partnership project with the Iraqi universities. Developing the academic infrastructure of the country is extremely important for the redevelopment of the economy – which is why the Center for Iraq Studies aims to provide an environment in which Iraqi academics and students can pursue their goals and studies.

Mechanical Engineering Germany Iraq, or MEGI, is a partnership project between the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg and the University of Salahaddin, Erbil and the University of Technology, Baghdad. Other universities involved in the project are Diyala University and Al-Mustansiriyah University. The project’s leader in Freiberg is Professor Jürgen Bast. The current focus of the project is the training of Iraqi PhD candidates and young academics, in order to provide a well-qualified future teaching staff, with the longer-term aim of creating a joint international Master’s course in Mechanical Engineering, to start in October 2011. A core component of the course will be a minimum of one semester spent abroad; either in Iraq or Germany.

The “Geosciences Resource Iraq” programme has had a successful start. The first measures of the programme, which is led by Professor Broder Merkel at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, have involved the purchase of equipment and capacity building for the partner universities in Iraq. A Memo of Understanding has been signed by the University of Salahaddin (Erbil), University of Sulaymaniyah, University of Basrah and Diyala University. Technicians have already travelled from Iraq to Freiberg in Saxony, German, to receive training on the devices. As well as technicians receiving training, PhD students have also travelled to Freiberg as well as scientists from the University of Freiberg’s partner universities in Iraq. A more long-term goal is the establishment of two International Master’s Courses by the end of 2011. The two courses will be on: “arid and semi-arid hydrogeology and water management” and “sustainable oil production”.

The “Bachelor for Planning Studies” run by the International Spatial Planning Centre (ISPC) at the Technical University Dortmund is being coordinated by Professor Christa Reicher, Dean of the Faculty. The syllabus of the eight-semester course has been carefully designed and is the result of close co-operation and planning between staff from the TU Dortmund and their Iraqi counterparts from the universities of Baghdad, Diyala, Dohuk and Mosul. The idea right from the start was that the Bachelor programme should be practice-centred. Research was carried out in eight provinces in Iraq, where interviews were conducted with local and regional governments, national ministries and NGOs. In Germany, the Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR - Regional Association Ruhr, an affiliation of 53 towns in the Ruhr region) is also involved in the planning process, to reflect the fact that in order to be successful, town planning must incorporate regional aspects and considerations.

The newest of the German Iraqi university partnerships is the cooperation between the Herder Institute in Leipzig and SUH Erbil. The main objective of the partnership is to build and operate a German department within the College of Languages in Erbil. Students there are prepared within four years to earn a bachelor’s degree in German as a foreign language. Part of the training is a summer course in Leipzig after the second year of study. The Herder Institute will design the curriculum in cooperation with the German department in Erbil; the staff of the department and short-term lecturers from Leipzig will carry out the program. In the short term, the partnership provides capacity-building support for the German department. In the long term, other institutions and the private sector could also use the German-trained teachers who get practical teaching experience in Erbil or Leipzig as part of their studies. The German department in Erbil also will be involved in the development of German language courses aimed at scholarship holders who are coming to Germany because of other Erbil partnerships.

German Version

Photo: Universität Leipzig / Randy Kühn