The American University in Baghdad (AUIB), the first foreign university active in the Iraqi central government, seeks to attract gifted Iraqi students in its new policy.
According to the Pak Sahafat news agency, following the completion of the high school exams, the university has launched a special program to admit students from gifted schools in Baghdad.
The university’s report on its official social network page states that over the past few days, it has hosted a number of gifted students from Baghdad schools and their families, and talked to them about the benefits of enrolling in the university and the graduation certificate issued by it.
University officials have claimed that the university degree is valid in the United States and many other countries.
The American University of Baghdad was officially licensed in 2018 (during the government of Haidar al-Abadi) and officially opened in 2020, and from 2021 it has started attracting students in various fields.
The university is one of the private universities where tuition is equivalent to five million Iraqi dinars (about $ 3,500), and high-intelligence students, equivalent to 95 out of a total of 100 points, are exempt from paying the tuition.
The university was built at the expense of the US Embassy in Baghdad and a wealthy Iraqi named Saadi Sihood in a complex of former Saddam’s former dictator Saddam’s palaces west of Baghdad.
Contrary to expectations, the reception of the university, despite all the publicity, was not as expected and only 300 students were accepted in its first year of operation, while university officials had predicted that between 10,000 and 30,000 students would be accepted.
The university has 14 faculties, of which only 3 faculties were able to be admitted, which is generally in the field of art, work and international research.
Contrary to the claims of university officials, reports indicate that the validity of a university degree in the United States requires years of work in Iraq.
The university has also been criticized for its location in the complex of former Iraqi dictator Saddam’s palaces on the outskirts of Baghdad International Airport (west of the capital).
Most of the criticism is due to the hijacking of Iraqi brains, and the university’s propaganda packages have raised concerns that Iraqi universities will be emptied of native brains.
One of the concerns is the plan to exempt students from university fees for gifted students who score 95% or higher in the final exams.
The imposition of texts and teaching methods on the Iraqi education system in general is another issue criticized by the university, especially since the US embassies are behind it.
In addition to this university, the United States has established two other universities, one in Sulaimaniyah and the other in Duhok.