| Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Windows (EMECW), a window for University of Dohuk to Europe |
2007-09-25 |
The University of Dohuk (UoD) is the first and only university in Iraq which has succeeded to become a main partner in the well-known Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Windows Program (EMECW) for scholarships. Through this partnership the university is given an opportunity to send students and staff members to several European countries for a period of 2 - 34 months.
“It is a great success and achievement for a young university such as UoD to get as many as 31 scholarships to attend ten leading universities in European Union (EU) countries. This has been achieved after several months’ of hard working and an excellent coordination with ITC which is the coordinating institution in The Netherlands”, stated Dr. Dawood Atrushi, VP for International Relations in the university. “This has given a new hope to our top students and the teaching staff to make a part of their studies/research abroad”, he added.
On September 25th 2007, both Dr. Atrushi and Prof. Nazar Numan attended a meeting in ITC in The Netherlands with the representatives of the ten hosting European universities to discuss issues related to the selection and distribution of our candidates. Also representatives of 6 Iranian and 3 Yemeni universities which are involved in this programme were present in the meeting.
According to this partnership programme the scholars can apply for different levels of studies that includes; BSc, MSc, PhD and post doctorate degree. Staff exchange is also included in the program. The UoDs’ share of these scholarships is distributed as 4 BSc, 11 MSc, 6 PhD, 4 post doctorate and 6 visiting staff.
On October 28th, it is expected that the names of the accepted applicants to be announced. It is set that the candidates join the universities by the beginning of April, 2008, but it is later suggested to be changed to September.
“Our scholarships are only dedicated to the students and the staff members of the university”, said Dr. Atrushi. “We had 220 enthusiastic applicants to these scholarships, and a committee of four followed regulations given by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Erbil and also followed objective criteria given by our University Board in the process of selecting the candidates for this programme”, he added.
The EM programme which has been expanded for first time to include several universities in the Middle-East includes 9 groups, with a budget of 36.5 million Euros. 3 million Euros are dedicated to the group Lot7 which Iraq is a part of. Iraq, Iran and Yemen are in the same group, and Iraq with its 41 scholarships has a third part of the budget. For more information about the programme se: www.erasmusmundus7.net.
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The University
