Every year, nearly 2000 students graduate from the University of Technology [7] (UT) in Baghdad with practical degrees in engineering and applied science. Yet many Iraqi graduates, doubly affected by both the global economic climate and the challenges of Iraq’s transition economy, face a future even more uncertain than their peers elsewhere. “Career and guidance services for students are non-existent in Iraq,” says Mohammed Al-Byate, director of a career center being established at the University of Technology in Baghdad. “Most employed graduates are not working in the fields of their academic specialization. They just don’t know where to turn when marketing themselves for a job.”
Al-Byate sees the lack of career guidance as one of the most pressing challenges in Iraqi higher education. He is preparing to establish a career center at UT-Baghdad through IREX’s Iraq University Linkages Program [8] (ULP), an initiative that seeks to promote higher education as a critical pillar in rebuilding Iraqi civil society.
Many Iraqi faculty members understand the need for massive reform efforts in order for their universities and graduates to compete in a global society. To address this need, the Iraq ULP program established knowledge-sharing partnerships between Iraqi and U.S. counterpart universities that include faculty training, curriculum reform and other cooperative activities according to the needs and expertise of each university. Supplementing this peer-to-peer capacity building, IREX provides targeted technical assistance to Iraqi universities through collaborative online and in-person trainings and study tours focused on critical growth areas like career support.
“The program has given me the opportunity to see [the progress of other] prestigious universities in the Arab world, such as American University of Beirut [9] (AUB) and Lebanese American University [10] (LAU),” explains Al-Byate. “In August, I’ll also visit the Career Center at University of Missouri-Columbia [11],” UT-Baghdad’s partner university.
By supporting Iraqi universities to establish career centers, IREX hopes to bridge the gap between higher education and the private sector in Iraq. Already, local and multinational companies have pledged to support IREX’s work in soft skills training, internships, and career fairs. Career center directors like Al-Byate will build upon these connections to launch the traditional mainstays of career support such as internship programs and employment databases, adjusting such tools to fit the needs and opportunities of Iraq today.
Al-Byate is hopeful about UT-Baghdad’s nascent career center. Independently, he designed and distributed a questionnaire on UT-Baghdad students’ career plans and interests to over 1000 students across the university, which will inform his plans for the career center. “It was so wonderful to take a step in the right direction,” says Al-Byate. Career centers in each of the three Iraq ULP participant universities, including Al-Byate’s, are scheduled to launch later this month.
The Iraq University Linkages Program is funded by the US Embassy Baghdad and administered by IREX. Please stay tuned for updates on the progress of the career centers by visiting the Iraq ULP project page [8].