Links grow with the University of Babylon
Pictured with Huddersfield’s Ray Dance (far left) and Dr Mosttafa Alghadhi (second right) are (left to right) Babylon’s President Professor Adil Hadi Al-Baghdadi, Dean of IT Professor Tofiq A Al-Assadi, Dean of Nursing Dr Ameen Hadi and Director of Scholarships and Cultural Relations Dr Asam Aljebory
Thu, 18 Aug 2016 09:54:00 BST
A Memorandum of Understanding will see both Babylon undergraduate and postgraduate students finishing their studies in Huddersfield
STUDENTS from one of the most fabled cities of the ancient world will soon be completing their degrees and boosting their qualifications at the University of Huddersfield.
The University of Babylon, in modern Iraq, was founded in 1991, close to the site of a city that was one of the earliest in human history, established more than 2,000 years BC. Today’s university is ambitious to raise its international reputation for teaching and research and part of its strategy is to form close links with UK universities – including Huddersfield.
Now, an agreement has been signed that will result on cohorts of undergraduates from Babylon relocating to the University of Huddersfield for the final year of their degrees in subject areas that will include automotive engineering, railway technology and forensic science. Some students will also take taught Master’s courses.
The link with Babylon began when Dr Mosttafa Alghadhi, who is Project Delivery and Support Officer in the University of Huddersfield’s Research and Enterprise Department, paid visits to the Iraqi university.
► Babylon’s President Professor Adil Hadi Al-Baghdadi (left) is pictured with Huddersfield’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, International, Professor Dave Taylor
Then came a fact-finding visit to the Huddersfield campus by a party that included University of Babylon’s President, Professor Adil Hadi Al-Baghdadi, Professor Tofiq A Al-Assadi, who is Dean of the School of Information Technology, Dr Asam Aljebory, Director of Scholarships and Cultural Relations and Dr Ameen Hadi, the Dean of Babylon’s School of Nursing.
Welcomed by Professor Dave Taylor, the University of Huddersfield’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, International, the Babylonian party were shown round several departments and research facilities, including the Schools of Computing and Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Institute of Railway Research. A Memorandum of Understanding between the universities of Huddersfield and Babylon was drawn up and signed.
Subsequently, Babylon’s Dr Aljebory paid a second visit to Huddersfield to finalise details of the subject areas that will be studied for top-up degrees by Iraqi undergraduates and for Master’s courses.
It is anticipated that the first students from Babylon will arrive in 2017 and that eventually there will be up to ten on each of the agreed subject areas.
