2026-06-23T11:26:09+00:00
Shafaq News- Erbil
Kurdish Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Aram Mohammed Qadir called on Tuesday on universities and institutes across Iraqi Kurdistan to launch a comprehensive review of their academic programs, aligning curricula with modern developments and labor market demands.
Speaking at a ceremony honoring distinguished academics at Salahaddin University in Erbil, Qadir expressed the ministry’s readiness to provide all necessary resources to implement the curricula changes, “giving graduates genuine opportunities to compete in the job market.”
Higher education in the Kurdistan Region has been the subject of successive reform efforts since 2008, when the ministry launched a curriculum overhaul in partnership with American universities and the IREX organization, backed by US State Department funding. The initiative introduced student-centered learning in place of rote instruction and added mandatory courses in academic debate, scientific research, and English across all faculties. A formal quality assurance system was followed in 2010, and the European Bologna Process, bringing with it a restructured credit system and international academic standards, was adopted from 2015 onward.
Nearly two decades on, however, the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union has said that curriculum improvements have been “gradual, weak, and insufficiently comprehensive,” with serious deficiencies persisting in core subjects.
Research across multiple KRG universities found that only 15% of surveyed academic staff expressed confidence in the quality of the higher education system.
Source: Shafaq News
