Universities in Iraq embracing change

By Imad Harb
Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON -- Iraqis have just undergone a vigorous election campaign on their way to a hoped-for future of democratic development. Whatever the circumstances surrounding the Iraqi adventure since 2003, the election will be understood as the Iraqis' response to their need for a democratic and safer state and society.
However, working toward a safer and democratic Iraq involves more than traditional mechanisms and institutions such as elections and security and armed forces.
Iraq's universities and scientific institutes are responsible for educating more than 400,000 Iraqi young people who make up the country's future leadership. These institutions have come to life following decades of operating under the control of a repressive state apparatus that deprived academics of their freedom to travel, teach, research, write and publish.
Curricula revisioins
They had their own elections for administrative positions immediately after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and began to revise their curricula to make them more responsive to students' needs. University administrators and faculty members have taken it upon themselves to try to ameliorate the detrimental effects of sanctions, isolation and postwar looting.
They continue to lobby their government and international donors for assistance in building classrooms, laboratories, libraries and other facilities. They also have succeeded in ensuring a degree of independence from the central Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research that controlled the higher education system under Saddam Hussein.
Many university campuses and academics around the country are doing very admirable work in promoting democratic governance and conflict resolution in Iraqi society. Dedicated faculty members and civic leaders are constantly organizing seminars, outreach activities and group meetings on intercultural and inter-religious relations.
Al-Mustansiriyya and al-Nahrain universities in Baghdad and universities in Sulaimaniya, Irbil, Kirkuk, Baquba, Ramadi, Basra, Nasiriyah and Qadisiyah have all begun vigorous, although modest, efforts to establish programs or introduce courses in peace education, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
The University of Baghdad achieved the most progress when it established in February an Educational Unit for Peace Studies and Human Rights. The unit, part of the university's department of education, has a governing board composed of deans and professors of education and political science and runs its own programs to reach out to the academic community around the country, secondary schools in Baghdad and the community at large.
It is commissioning articles from professors of law, political science and education on the constitution, democratic development, good governance, the rule of law and human rights.
It also is starting an essay contest for secondary school students in Baghdad titled "What Do I Want from the New Iraq?"
What sealed the universities' role as central actors in Iraq's democratic development was the effort undertaken by 12 campuses around the country to hold public education meetings about the constitution before its approval Oct. 15.
Media coverage
Hundreds of students, administrators, faculty members and members of the public attended these meetings, which were covered by the local and national media. The acrimonious public discourse about the thorny issues of federalism, religion in politics, minority rights and identity made the universities natural venues for dispassionate, expert and objective opinion.
If Iraq is to reach the degree of democratic development and social peace the ongoing political process is likely to engender, it is necessary to allow for a more prominent role for its academic community, especially at higher-education institutions. Under authoritarian rule, these institutions were either silenced or effectively used to muzzle social change.
As Iraq navigates its way past authoritarianism, its politicians would do well to heed and harness the powerful and liberating role of the university classroom.
X Harb, a program officer in education at the United States Institute of Peace, works with Iraqi higher education institutions to develop conflict management curricula. Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service