UK Universities returned to Erbil and Sulaimaniyah in April for the UK Education Tour, meeting potential future HCDP scholarship students, Iraq scholarship students, faculty from local universities and Kurdish Regional Government officials.
This was the 4th ‘UK Education Tour’ mission to the region since 2011, and once again excellent UK universities came to Kurdistan to meet with promising young students from all over Iraq. The next UK Education Tour in Iraq will take place in September and registration is now open.
The demand for International Higher Education is driven by regional and national scholarship programmes that aim to rebuild Iraqi Higher Education after years of isolation and war. Scholarships aim to send students all over the world for this project, although the UK is by far the most sought after destination for students from Kurdistan.
Exhibitors reported excellent levels of interest from students and faculty, and appreciated the participation of both UK and KRG officials. UKET continues to act as a platform for lobbying the Kurdish Regional Government to maintain a full list of UK universities on the ‘recommended’ institution list published on the KRG HCDP website.
Exhibitor feedback is still coming in. Joanne Jacobs (University of Manchester) wrote, “I thought it was very worthwhile, well targeted and good fun!”
Kathryn Land from the University of Portsmouth commented, “It was a great success and all went smoothly – unusual for the Middle East!!”