Western Adventures in Education for Iraqis
by Vera H-C ChanJul 7, 2009
Iraq may be trading up, from Western military support to educational opportunities. According to Inside Higher Ed blog, an Iraqi government program plans to fund 10,000 annual scholarships for its citizens to study at American and British universities.
The Iraqi Parliament has set aside $54 million (about half of what Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki requested, but still not bad) to launch the program, set to run for five years. A Washington academic group is helping the government out with the logistics, and the first round will be chosen by the end of July.
Iraq has been on an educational spending spree: It recently promised to double Fulbright Student Scolarship offerings. Not everyone (including American scholars) loves the idea of money going to Western universities, rather than back into the Iraqi infrastructure. As for worries about even a bigger "brain drain" from Iraq, the Higher Committee on Educational Development requires students every year of their scholarship with a year of working in their native country, or pay everything back.
To most involved with the effort, though, this educational (and cultural) exchange can do nothing but good. Right now, about 225,000 American undergraduates are getting up to scholarly speed in the Middle East.
As one Valparaiso University employee puts it, "The exchange of international students promotes mutual understanding around the world, which leads to more peaceful relationships regionally." First lessons though: How to deal with Western red tape.
