17 August 2011
Dundee boosting computing education in Iraq
A British Council-backed partnership between the University of Dundee and the University of Kufa in Iraq is helping boost the development of higher education in the Middle Eastern country.
The link has been formed between the Schools of Computing in Dundee and Kufa. Members of staff from Kufa's Computing department have been shadowing research and teaching teams in Dundee, to learn how to develop their curriculum and research activities. As a result, it is expected that the Iraq university will:
- develop new internationally relevant IT subjects and programs in computing
- improve the quality of teaching and learning skills of staff, including use of advanced e-Learning techniques
- introduce more opportunities for female academics
- advance the English language capabilities of staff
Dr Janet Hughes, Dean of the School of Computing at Dundee, said, “This is a project that will have a significant impact in developing the capability of Kufa to deliver high-level programs in computing, which in turn helps to re-establish higher education in Iraq.
“It has also been immensely rewarding for our staff and students. There has been a real exchange of ideas and knowledge and I think it will ultimately be of real benefit to everyone involved.”
The British Council is supporting the two-year project, which has seen groups of staff from Iraq coming to Dundee for two-week stints to be given research and academic management training and to develop their e-learning activities. As each visit happens at a different part of the academic cycle, Iraqi staff are exposed to a very wide range of activities at all levels within the staff and student body.
Staff from both institutions also attended a joint Learning and Teaching Conference in Istanbul this summer.
Dr Yahya Hadi, past Chair of the Computer Science department at Kufa, said, “This link with Dundee and the expertise they have across a wide range of computing and e-learning has been extremely valuable to us. This is work that will contribute to our own teaching programmes and enhance the progress of higher education in Kufa University.”
The visits to Dundee have involved Kufa staff in a wide range of activities across all aspects of university life, including meetings with research groups, teaching and administration staff and students. Kufa staff have attended student presentations at all levels from Level 1 to PhD and have had the opportunity to discuss the students’ work with the students and the teaching staff.
There are two further visits of 6 Kufa staff planned for October 2011 and January 2012.
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
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University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
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E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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