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| | Director-General welcomes results of Roundtable on the Revitalization of Higher Education in Iraq
24-02-2005 - The Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura today praised the work carried out by participants at the Roundtable on the Revitalization of Higher Education in Iraq, saying it enabled UNESCO and its partners to take stock of the situation of - and plan further assistance for - the nation’s higher education and research institutions. |
“The meeting provided us with valuable information and gave us an opportunity to appreciate the determination of Iraq’s academics and Ministry of Education to bring higher education back to its former level of excellence,” Mr Matsuura said.
“I am confident,” the Director-General added, “that UNESCO Chairs in universities around the world, our educational networks and our many international partners will contribute to the rapid return of Iraq to the fold of the global community of higher learning and research, which is essential for peace and prosperity in the country.”
The Director-General also said that UNESCO would continue assisting Iraq in obtaining scientific and medical equipment and books, developing and modernizing its university curricula, infrastructures and services.
Mr Matsuura further welcomed the commitment voiced by Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr Salih Idris, “to ensure quality higher education marked by gender parity, the separation of state and religion, mindful of the values of democracy and human rights.”
Three donations to help revitalize higher education in Iraq were announced during the Roundtable: Her Highness The First Lady of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Misnad, who is a Special UNESCO Envoy for Basic and Higher Education, pledged US$1 million dollars in addition to the US$15 million she provided to the International Fund for Higher Education in Iraq in 2003; the Republic of Korea pledged US$200,000;
and the Qatar Industrial Development Bank pledged 30,000.
“These donations are warmly appreciated and will be used for the implementation of concrete projects for the benefit of students, academics and researchers,” the Director-General said, inviting Member States, multilateral and private sector donors to continue providing funds to Iraqi higher education.
The two-day Roundtable was attended by close to 20 leading academics from Iraq and representatives of the Iraqi Education Ministry, including Salih Idris, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mosa Al Mosawy, President of Baghdad University, and Abdul Salam Al Jammas, Director General of Projects and Reconstruction at the Ministry of Education. It also drew participants from the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and representatives of the global academic community, bilateral and multilateral organizations, international NGOs and the private sector.
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Flash Info 031-2005
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