Back

Print this page

Discussion over areas of cooperation between the British council and the University of Dohuk (UoD) was the reason for a visit by British delegates to the university. The British Council Regional Director of the Middle East, Rob Lynez, and the British Council Director of Iraq, Karen Giblin, arrived at UoD on December 10, 2007. The aim of the visit was to look for possible areas of collaboration and support that the council could provide to help develop Higher Education in Kurdistan.


The President of UoD, Dr. Asmat M. Khalid, and some other professors met with the visiting delegation. The UoD president talked about obstacles facing UoD students in traveling to Britain to study for graduate programs. Attention was directed towards those who already received scholarships to study for a master or doctorate degree in the UK under the supervision of British professors. Dr. Asmat emphasized the high tuition fees of the British universities compared to other American and European universities in addition to the high cost of living in the UK. He suggested that Iraqi students get their British visa in Erbil instead of Amman or Damascus. He also stressed the importance and the role of English at the university in particular and in the Kurdistan region in general. For this reason, he contemplated the need for a number of native speakers to teach English at UoD. This step will improve our students’ abilities in learning English as a foreign language.

The British delegation assured the congregate that they would look into these issues and promised to find an appropriate solution. They also expressed their willingness to strengthen and develop relations between UoD and the British universities.