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On February 10-14, 2009, two university presidents from Iraq visited North Carolina State University to meet with university administrators. The purpose of the visit was to begin a dialogue about opportunities for academic cooperation and exchange between American and Iraqi universities. The US Department of State sponsored the visit, which also included the American Council on Education’s national conference in Washington D.C. Dr. Ali E. Al-Snafi, President of Thi Qar University and Dr. Khalil I. Al-Dulemi, President of Al-Anbar University expressed interest to have students and faculty from their respective universities study and conduct research at NC State during their meeting with Chancellor Oblinger and Provost Nielsen.
Discussions with the deans from the Colleges of Engineering, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Education and Veterinary Medicine also provided the opportunity to identify the areas of potential collaboration. Drs. Al-Snafi and Al-Dulemi toured the Constructed Facilities Laboratory located on NC State’s Centennial Campus to learn more about the ongoing research and talk with students about their work in the CFL. The Global Training Initiative at NC State, which enhances international partnerships through its certificate, study, research, and internship programs, could be an effective mechanism to facilitate the cooperation with Thi Qar University and Al-Anbar University.
Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education has established ten thousand scholarships to fund undergraduate and graduate exchanges as well as short-term (3-month masters and 6-month PhD) training experiences abroad for Iraqi students and faculty. Cooperative efforts to enhance capacity building within Iraq’s universities underpin the developing interaction between American and Iraqi institutions of higher education. Three aspects for this development include faculty training, post-doc scholarly research and student enrollment in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. We are honored to have Dr. Al-Snafi and Dr. Al-Dulemi visit NC State and begin a dialogue about how educational cooperation and cultural exchange can promote closer relations between the US and Iraq. In order to advance this academic and research collaboration, NC State University entered into Memoranda of Understanding with Thi Qar University and Al-Anbar University.
From left to right:
Chancellor James L. Oblinger, Dr. Khalil I. Al-Dulemi,
Dr. Ali E. Al-Snafi and Provost Larry Nielsen
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