Huddersfield’s Kurdistan alumni hold inaugural event
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 16:50:00 GMT
Alumni event celebrates the Kurdistan’s Human Capacity Development Program in Higher Education scholarship programme
Dignitaries at the event
KURDISH ex-students are keeping up their connection with the University of Huddersfield. Dozens of them – with family and friends – have attended an inaugural dinner for alumni, taking place at a five-star hotel in the heart of Erbil, capital city of Kurdistan.
Huddersfield was one of the first universities from the UK to form links with Kurdistan and over the past decade some 130 students from the region have studied there. The alumni dinner that took place at the Rotana Hotel in Erbil was aimed at students – mostly postgraduates – who completed their courses over the past three years before returning to their homeland.
The University currently has 3,000 overseas students from more than 130 countries and its success in recruitment has led to a Queen’s Award for International Trade.
The aim of the event was to celebrate the contribution that the students made to the University of Huddersfield, where they studied for Master’s degrees and PhDs in subjects that included law, banking and finance, food science, nutrition, health and social care, history and computer science. It was also to celebrate the success of Kurdistan’s Human Capacity Development Program in Higher Education (HCDP) scholarship programme and the region’s ongoing relationship with the UK.
Students were invited to bring photos and other memorabilia of their Huddersfield experience. And they were treated to a slideshow of images of campus life that was specially compiled by the President of the Kurdish Students’ Society at Huddersfield, Ako Muhamad.
The inaugural dinner sparked interest in the Kurdish media, with two TV stations planning to send film crews. There was a total attendance of about 124 at the function, including 40 former students.
Professor David Taylor, who is the University of Huddersfield’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, International, presided over the reunion dinner, to which students travelled from all parts of Kurdistan. Now the aim is to form a society for Huddersfield alumni in Kurdistan, mirroring the Kurdish Students’ Society on the University’s campus.
The British Consul General, Hugh Evans, also spoke about the great contribution that Kurdish students are making at Huddersfield and other UK universities.
Special events for former University of Huddersfield students are being held around the world. They have already taken place in countries that include Nigeria, Indonesia and Vietnam and there are plans for reunions in India, Pakistan, China and Jordan. Most of the functions are attended by senior university figures.
