Maintaining high-quality teaching and research despite war and chaos

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FAU invites representatives of Iraqi partner universities to Franconia

For universities in Iraq, remaining a part of international research and staying up-to-date with developments in teaching despite sanctions, war and chaos is essential. FAU helps to ensure that this is possible through partnerships with the universities in Baghdad and Erbil. In order to strengthen these partnerships and promote discussion between other Iraqi and German universities, 14 delegations from universities in Iraq will visit FAU from 18 to 20 May.

Due to the political and social situation in the country, universities in Iraq – which were once some of the leading universities in the Arab world – have become increasingly cut off from developments in international research and academic teaching over the past 30 years, especially since 2003. In order to address this issue, FAU’s Centre for Iraq Studies (CIS) set up the Iraqi-German Academic Cooperation Network (IG-CON), which is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). IG-CON aims to create a network of universities in Iraq and Germany in order to pool academic experience, promote joint research initiatives and make it easier for researchers from the two countries to exchange ideas.

However, the meeting organised as part of IG-CON will not just focus on sharing experiences. The main aim is to give the participants an opportunity to set up new projects that will allow academic knowledge to be exchanged more easily and to establish new partnerships between German and Iraqi universities. With this in mind, researchers from eight German universities will give presentations on their experiences in Iraq and on future projects. The delegates will also travel to the neighbouring cities of Bamberg and Würzburg with the aim of setting up new partnerships with the universities there.

Further information:

cis.fau.de

Prof. Dr. Sefik Alp Bahadir
Phone: +49 9131 8526983
sefik-alp.bahadir@fau.de