Monday 8 November, the Iraqi Minister for Higher Education & Scientific Research and 6 University Presidents with a delegation of their university's scientists, started in Wageningen with a prominent working visit up to Friday 12 November.
Efficient water management, climate smart agriculture and institutional capacity strengthening, including the signing of a Gender Equality Plan for each of the universities, and exchange on international partnerships and curriculum features to optimize labour and career opportunities, were scheduled as part of the OKP project led by Wageningen University, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic in The Hague. WU partners with IHE Delft and ICRA in this project with the six Iraqi universities.
This unique exchange was opened on Monday 8 November in the presence of Hisham Al Alawi, Ambassador of Iraq to the Netherlands; Merel de Koninck of the Dutch embassy in Iraq; Titia Bredée, director-general of Nuffic, Bram de Vos, WUR director Environmental Sciences, and Coen Ritsema, WUR professor and project leader. The Iraq Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof Dr Nabil Abdul Sahib was not able to join due to an urgent issue in Iraq.
After the welcoming and an overview of the project importance and successes so far, the university presidents signed each a tailor-made Gender Equality Plan for their university. These GEPs are designed within the project by the newly established gender teams under project support by Margreet van der Burg, WU, and Carin Vijfhuizen, independent - iCRA. Each GEP outlines how the university will enact gender mainstreaming to advance gender equality. After a workshop in the afternoon by Peter Jongebloed, WUR Grant Office, about acquiring and streamlining international partnerships and project collaboration within the university, the Monday was concluded with a market with Dutch educational institutions and research institutes to get acquainted with the six universities and to identify possible new partnerships.
The rest of the week offers many more workshops, such as on how the curriculum can optimally prepare students for their profession and increase their career opportunities, with a presentation about WUR as an example by Arnold Bregt, WUR Dean of Education. A visit to IHE Delft shows the Iraq visitors the IHE-water management projects in Iraq and how these can be linked to labour and project opportunities. Furthermore, there are workshops and training courses led by ICRA, WUR and IHE for curriculum development and research design on the aforementioned themes, leadership options and gender mainstreaming. At the end of the week, we conclude with discussing further integration and strengthening.
