Global Policy Forum

By Abid Aslam

The United Nations is urging governments and educators worldwide to rise to the aid of Iraq's colleges and universities, saying that five out of six have been wrecked and warning that failure to rehabilitate them will set back efforts to heal the war-brutalised country.

''The devastation of the Iraqi system of higher education has been overlooked amid other cataclysmic war results but represents an important consequence of the conflicts, economic sanctions, and ongoing turmoil in Iraq,'' said Jairam Reddy, director of the United Nations University (UNU) International Leadership Institute in Amman, Jordan. ''Repairing Iraq's higher education system is in many ways a prerequisite to the long term repair of the country as a whole,'' added Reddy.

Since the start of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation in 2003, some 84 percent of Iraq's institutions of higher education have been burnt, looted, or destroyed, Reddy said in an assessment released Sunday. Four dozen academics have been assassinated and many more brave daily threats, the study found. ''The bravery and dedication of educators who remain in a shattered Iraq should inspire the swift, meaningful, and practical support of the international academic community,'' said Hans van Ginkel, rector of UNU, a Tokyo-based international network of academics.

An International Fund for Higher Education in Iraq, initiated in 2003 by the first lady of Qatar, has received small donations from the Qatar National Bank, South Korea, and Doha National Bank, Reddy said. ''It is vital that these funds be augmented substantially by the international community in order for the reconstruction and rejuvenation of the Iraqi higher education system to proceed unimpeded,'' he added.

Only 40 percent of infrastructure destroyed now is being rebuilt, the study said, and water and electricity supplies remain unreliable. Some 2,000 laboratories need to be re-equipped and 30,000 computers need to be procured and installed nationwide, the study found.

''The Iraqi Academy of Sciences, founded in 1948 to promote Arabic language and heritage, saw its digital and traditional library partially looted during the war and it alone needs almost one million dollars in infrastructure repairs to re-establish itself as a leading research centre.'' Iraqi higher education's brain trust also has been depleted by more than a decade of international sanctions imposed in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait and by persistent security threats against academics and institutions in recent years.

As many as four out of 10 of the country's best-trained educators have emigrated since 1990, leaving behind teaching staff the report described as ''long-isolated and under-qualified.'' One-third of existing faculty members hold only a bachelor's degree, despite rules requiring a master's degree; 39 percent have a master's degree and 28 percent, a doctorate.

Beyond increased funding, Reddy proposed setting up a national commission on higher education modelled on similar bodies established in several countries including post-apartheid South Africa. The commission would be made up of officials, academics, students, and, given Iraq's recent isolation, handpicked academics from abroad. It would address everything from infrastructure needs to regulatory issues and the existing policy of ensuring a place at university for all successful secondary-school graduates.

Reddy said the entitlement to higher education might need to be trimmed to ease pressure on the system and to improve the quality of instruction. Iraq has 20 universities and 47 technical institutes under its Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and 10 private colleges offering computer sciences, business administration, economics, and management, the study said.

In addition, 24 colleges train secondary school teachers with another seven training primary and kindergarten teachers and seven training physical education teachers. Major fields of study offered at Iraqi universities include education, arts, law, social sciences, administration, economics, natural sciences, engineering and technology, medical sciences, veterinary medicine, and agriculture.

Reddy said recent improvements included the addition to curricula of democracy, human rights, and anti-terrorism. And while there is no dedicated budget for higher education, he added, the ad hoc amount allocated has increased to 70 million dollars this year, from 40 million dollars in 2003. Primary and secondary education also has been ruined, according to the U.N. children's agency.

UNICEF said in a report last October that school attendance had increased as students, parents, and teachers began to take in stride frequent reports of bombings, attacks, and kidnappings. But the school system -- once one of the finest in the Middle East -- was overwhelmed, the agency added. There weren't enough desks, chairs, or classrooms and most schools lacked even basic water or sanitation facilities, it said, adding that millions of Iraqi students had to brave raw sewage to get into the schools and the grounds.

UNICEF attributed the school system's fall to three wars and more than a decade of neglect and insufficient funding during international sanctions, which remained in effect from 1990-2003. U.S. officials often have highlighted their renovation of schools as a success story of Iraq under occupation. The UNICEF report said that as of last October, some 18 months after the U.S.-led invasion, the rehabilitation was limited.