Iraqi Universities Struggle to Rebuild the "House of Knowledge"

Academe, Sep/Oct 2004 by Gray, Mary

Enthusiasm for rebuilding higher education runs high in Iraq. Reconstruction efforts, however, have tailed to keep pace with this eagerness.

The sign, Hawler International Airport, greeted me and my fellow passengers as our six-seater plane landed in July 2003 on a strip of concrete in the middle of an Iraqi field. Fortunately, the approach to this improvised airfield was direct, not like the spiraling in and out of Baghdad and Basra required to avoid possible hostile fire. Waiting were two vehicles, one from Research Triangle Institute, a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the other from the Coalition Provisional Authority, the military entity that governed Iraq until the handover of authority to a transitional Iraqi government in June 2004. Arrivals at the airport encountered little: no buildings, no immigration, no customs, no X-ray machines-nothing but unrelenting 120-plus-degree heat.

Welcome to Iraq, or rather welcome to the former "Kurdish Safe Zone," the three Kurdish provinces administered by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and protected from Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War by the "no-fly" rule. Unfortunately, "no fly" meant no easy way of getting people or supplies in or out for the past twelve years. The irregular and dangerous flights from Baghdad and Amman, such as the one on which 1 arrived, raised hope among the local inhabitants that soon there would be regular commercial service.

My visit two years earlier to Hawler involved flying to Dyabikar, in the Kurdish southeast of Turkey, then riding three and a half hours to the Iraqi border, a more-or-less unofficial crossing.' Following that was a harrowing four-hour drive in convoy with Pesh Murga, Kurdish militia guards, through beautiful scenery on breath-stopping roads. Two years ago, the mood was generally optimistic in spite of the difSculties in securing supplies, the disgust with the misuse of the "oil-fbr-fbod" money (which should have conferred better services to Iraq as a whole, including the Kurdish region), and the apprehension caused by the sight, from the citadel in the center of Hawler, of Saddam's army across the "border" in Iraq "proper."

The primary purpose ofthat 2001 visit was to help organize a census in the KRG-controlled region. Iraq had not carried out a reliable census for many years (and still hasn't). Thousands of villages destroyed in various onslaughts against the Kurds had been rebuilt, many refugees had returned from Iran and elsewhere, and Kurds forced out of cities by Saddam had moved to the safe zone in the years after the Gulf War. The regional government was anxious to have better information for planning in all sectors, including education, water use, and agriculture.

My first encounter with Iraqi universities was in the KR.G region; I needed to assess their ability to provide the infrastructure needed for a census. Because of my professional background and my work with the human rights organization Amnesty International, I was later asked for advice in other sectors, such as information technology, teacher training, and human rights training for judges, police, and prison staff!

I found the Kurdish universities short on books, information technology, and other resources, but long on enthusiasm and the ability to cope. Buildings ranged from new to old and from utilitarian to decidedly makeshift, but they were generally well maintained considering the circumstances. The major complaint from faculty and administrators was their inability to communicate adequately with academics in Europe and the United States. Getting visas is hard enough when you have a country of your own (and thus a passport). Because the KRG region is not a nation, it was almost impossible for scholars there to travel internationally. At each of the three universities (Dohuk, Sulemaniya, and Salahaddin) in the KRG zone, there was limited Internet access through a slow and unreliable satellite connection, typically with only a few terminals in some central campus location (like the president's ofBce).

Feeling of Optimism

What had changed two years later when 1 returned? I was there because, like many other Americans, I had not supported the war in Iraq and felt obliged to do something to help the Iraqis in some small way, using what expertise I could contribute. I joined a project focused on secondary education in all of occupied Iraq.

The Kurdish north saw little of the war, although its fighters participated in the coalition military efforts against Saddam. People in the KRG region-in July 2U03-supported the war. They were enormously pleased to see the end of Saddam's regime, and I found them extremely hospitable, especially those with whom I was renewing my acquaintance.

Opportunities for communication and exchange were eagerly envisioned; everywhere, there was hope for access to Iraq's riches for improvements in education and other sectors. The presence of coalition forces was not too invasive, and the U.S. civil affairs officers were eagerly helping with everything from improving information technology to healing ailing village goats.