During a field visit by the International Team for Academic Evaluation to the Iraqi universities that obtained The Times Higher Education World University Rankings and nominated to compete in mentioned Ranking, in which included Dean of Higher Education and Emerging Technologies in the Queensland Government and former Vice-Chancellor of the Australian Union University, Dr. Talal Youssef, Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at Central Queensland Australian University, Dr. Steve Hall and Head of Akademi Professor Malayasia, Dr. Jaafar Salih met the specialists of the University of Babylon, which topped the Iraqi universities in the Ranking of the Times and the University of Warith Al-Anbiyaa. 

The academic delegation reviewed that the evaluation criteria that are related to the context of current and expected future developments in university specialties and related to governance and management, which includes academic leadership, structure, employment aspect and professional accreditation requirements, as well as the effectiveness of universities’ activities in promoting and ensuring training opportunities, student success and university enrollment trends besides managing national and international accreditation activities.

The academic experts highlighted with the Presidents and representatives of the two universities a number of axes, such as international participation, education and scientific research partnerships, alumni-related activities, promotional and communication activities, scholarships and studying awards.

The academic delegation also reviewed the importance of developing and building a university internationalization strategy according to the requirements responsible for developing the Iraqi Higher Education’s environment at the international level, strengthening the field of institutional relations and joint programs with international universities and international organizations and encouraging foreign students to study in Iraqi universities in light of the initiative of the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of  Study in Iraq project. 

It is worth mentioning that the delegation will conduct intensive visits to a number of Iraqi universities.