Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies

 

Conditions of Social Sciences in Iraq: A General Survey

 

 

Summary

 

I-                  Introduction

 

1-1: This report examines the conditions of social sciences in Iraq to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The research team included six academic figures from various disciplines and regions, together with six young assistant researchers.

 

1-2: The research plan was premised on Maurice Godelier’s definition of social sciences as inclusive of all faculties other than natural and technological sciences. Three clusters of determinants were examined: institutional (in the academia), political, and socio-cultural factors. The major focus, however, was laid on the institutional factors: organization of faculties, the curricula, the teaching staff, reference or text books, , problems of methodology and terminology, organization of faculties, libraries, among other determinants.

 

1-3: Field research plan began with the collection of quantitative data sets, and proceeded to examining qualitative aspects, both of which based on documents, interviews, and questionnaires that cover the last decade, and where possible even earlier.

 

1-4: The survey targeted three major regions: Kurdistan (Sulamaniya and Erbil), Baghdad, and the South (Basrah, Nassiriya and Amara, Kufa, Karbala and Diwaniya). The team managed to extend survey to two other provinces: Slahudin (Tikrit) and Anbar (Ramadi and Falluja).

 

1-5: The IIST team received a warm support from deputy prime minister Dr. Salam Zaoubai, the minister of Higher Education Mr. Abid Thiyab Ujaili, the minister of Scientific Reasearch Mr. Raid Fahmi, and the ex-Planning Minister, Dr. Mahdi Hafiz. A countless host of colleagues from the academia extended support to our team.

 

1-6: The report is divided into eight sections as follows:

 

 

I-                  General background and Overview:

 

2-1: The modern system of higher education was centrally introduced by the newly created Iraq nation-state since 1921. It took three decades before Baghdad University would emerge in 1957 to serve the needs of state and society in their process of modernization.

 

2-2: Throughout the seven decades of their existence, Iraqi academies had two distinct phases. The first phase was one of systematic quantitative and qualitative growth; by contrast phase two was one of moderate quantitative growth, but of gradual, but steady, decline in qualitative terms.

 

2-3: The last quarter of century was particularly negative: structural dynamics of decline were set in motion that weakened academies, and almost crippled social sciences. These are political, institutional, and socio-cultural factors.

 

2-4: Politically, the central (government) promoted natural and technological sciences, at least in terms of funding and scholarship. By contrast, social sciences were heavily censored in line with the monist ideology of the ruling party, and were also manipulated for social and ideological engineering ends.

 

2-5: Institutionally, the structural organization of the social science faculties that was established in the fifties, has hardly sustained any rethinking. No new disciplines were added (e.g. anthropology, linguistics). The same applies to the curricula, text books, and teaching techniques, among other things.

2-6: Socio-culturally: By norms of state and society, most social sciences were held low. This was translated in admission terms, salaries, and employment opportunities of graduates.

 

 

2-7: Wars (1980-8 and 1990-1) and sanctions (1990-2003) drained much of central resources. As a result, a brain-drain ensued and academies were cut-off from the world and impoverished.

 

2-8: The invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 has demolished the old state structures and initiated a macabre political process fraught with uncertainties. Sundry dynamics were set in motion:

On the one hand, academies re-linked with the world through scholarship, the internet, the freedom of travel, unrestricted importation of books and freedom of publication. Teaching staff salaries improved (from $8 to a minimum of $450). Faculty deans were now elected. With the presence of international bodies, agencies and firms demand on local research and knowledge ended state monopoly of the ‘market’ for academic products.

On the other hand, political and criminal violence exacerbated the Islamic-conservative influence over academic life. New forms of restrictions on the teaching process and the curricula were evident. A life-threatening atmosphere triggered a new wave of academic exodus abroad. These developments almost neutralized the positive developments mentioned above.

The continuation of political violence and instability may well hamper prospects of development.

 

 

II-                 National Regional and Sectoral Growth: Academies, Teaching Staff, and Students:

 

 

3-1- Higher learning was confined to one central university based in the capital Baghdad.

Expansion beyond the centre to the provinces went through three stages:

Phase one began in 1964 with the foundation of two universities in Basra and Mosul provinces, followed by a third in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniya in 1969. A second university, Mustansiriya, was also established in Baghdad in 1963. This diffusion signaled a drive from the centre to the periphery, recognizing the growth of one million cities (Mosul and Basra). The case of Sulaymaniya was to meet Kurdish demands for ethnic autonomy.

In the second phase, diffusion from the centre to the provincial peripheries went on, with each province having its own university, save Samawa and Amara which have colleges affiliated to Diwaniya and Basra universities.

The de facto Kurdish autonomy in the years 1990-2003 triggered a similar trend to expand universities to all three Kurdish provinces (five universities all).

As of 1988, central authorities retraced on their monopoly of higher learning and allowed a come back to private, native and foreign, academic institutes.

 

3-2- As a result of this expansion, Iraq has now 22 public universities and 20 private universities.

This trend brought about a similar increase in the number of social science faculties: sociology (from 1 to 8), philosophy (from 1 to 5), and so on.

This quantitative development has its merits, but with some disadvantages quality wise, since human and material resources were spread thin.

All universities at the moment fall under the jurisdiction of the central authority of the MHE in financial and administrative terms, but have come as of 2003 under the spell of local, often violent, politics. In the Kurdish region, universities are answerable to the regional finance and higher education ministries in Erbil and enjoy this measure of autonomy.

 

3-3- The general growth in the size of the students’ population bent on receiving higher education was the result of demographic growth, free public higher education, and the upward social mobility offered by receiving higher academic degrees. The ‘welfare state’ also pursued a policy of near total absorption of secondary school graduates into academic life as part of its social contract to offer full employment in order to buy political consent and live up to its proclaimed social ideals of equality, and of course to meet its needs, however limited, for experts. By this ‘inflationary’ policy, the ‘welfare state’ under the ancient regime thus deepened the detachment of academic development from the actual needs of state and society. With the UN imposed sanction in place in 1990, oil revenues deteriorated and the state policy of unlimited academic growth was doomed. Redundancy of the teaching staff soon followed, leading to a paradoxical situation: a growth in universities and students numbers coupled by a relative decrease in the size of the teaching staff. The trends of students population growth continued after 2003, and is analyzed in table No.1.

 

 

3-4- In the same period (1994-2007), a different, zigzag, trajectory is evident in the case of the higher education teaching staff. Their size during the years 1994-2003 remained more or less stagnant, largely due to the steady outflow of veteran tutors in search of political or economic security. A massive growth followed in the year 2003 (table 2 and 3).

 

 

3-5-Analyzing the growth of the academic teaching staff by region (Baghdad, Kurdistan, South, Midland, and Middle Euphrates)[1] during the period 2004-6 reveals a steady growth in absolute but not in relative terms within. In 2006, the distribution of the teaching staff region wise was as follows: Baghdad 50%, Kurdistan 10.7%, Midland 14.1%, Mid Euphrates 10.3%, the South 14.8. This distribution does not match the demographic weight of the regions, and all regions examined are understaffed, save Baghdad that accounts for roughly 25% of the population but accounts for 50% of the academic teaching personnel. The rates of growth in each region in the period 2004-6 were as follows: Baghdad 13.3%, Kurdistan 11.7%, Midland 26.6%, Mid Euphrates 20.1%, and the South 10.5%.

 

3-6- The relative national weight of the above regions within the context of overall national figures, on the other hand, went down between 2—4 and 2006; the decrease was mostly effected the uneven development (overgrowth in certain regions causing rations in other regions to sustain relative fall).

 

3-7-Sectoral (social science) profile during 2004-6 was not dissimilar: the social science teaching staff also sustained an absolute increase nationwide but relative decline in most provinces except Kufa and Karbala as a result of overgrowth of stable provinces, mild growth of others, and insignificant growth in beleaguered provinces. The relative decrease then signifies a redistribution and uneven growth region-wise. Najaf, Kufa and Karbala registered 44.7%, 26.1% and 23.1% growth. (tables 4).

 

3-8- In the same period (2004-6) the development of the overall students population by region is different from that of the reaching staff. While the general trend was that of steady increase, certain universities showed negative growth (Baghhdad -3.7 and Kufa -3.1), largely to due to political violence.

 

3-9- Sectoral (social science) students’ profile in 2004-6 is even worse than the regional students profile. The negative growth in the number of social science students seems more pervasive. The percentages were as follows: Baghdad -9.3, Nahrain -50.3, Kufa -30.9, Qadisiya -9.4, Karbala -3.4. The overall decrease of asocial science students by region was: Baghdad region -3.1, Mid Euphrates -17.3. This is largely caused by local armed conflicts and male chauvinism targeting female students. (table 6).

 

 

 

IV-Academic Institutions: Structures, Organization, Hierarchies and Norms

 

 

4-1: Centrality of the State:

A basic fact in the realm of education is the central role of the state. Central authorities finance, administer and control academic life from A to Z. Accordingly, state educational policies are crucial to the development of the academic life. These policies, however, changed course more often than not as political elites changed hands at the helm. There seem to be genuine differences between the liberal-moderate monarchic era (1921-1958), the centrist-Iraqi nationalist phase (1958-1963), or the Arabist-authoritarian military ‘Arif regime (1963-8), or the Arab-socialist Ba’ath (1968-2003), or the growing Islamist era (prevailing since 2004).

A common trend was to expand higher education in line with the growing function of the state and its growing needs for more technocrats and bureaucrats. Expansion was also part of a ‘social contract’ for full employment and wider distribution of oil benefits. Another common feature was to favour natural sciences and technology, in line with ‘developmental’ visions. A neutrality vis-à-vis social science was a marker of the monarchy only. Under the Ba’ath, police-like surveillance and monitoring of social sciences was almost the constant norm. Scholarship policies were tailored along these lines. And private academies were nationalized.

With few changes, the basic features of this centralism still prevail.

 

4-2: Hierarchical organization:

The educational pyramid is topped by the ministry of higher education (MHE) which is organized in six departments, three of which directly control the academic institutions, determining the contents of the curricula, the text books, admission terms, scholarships, post-graduate studies, salary levels, human resources, and the organization of universities and faculties.

According to MHE, there are plans to create 14 new colleges, 37 new college departments, 3 new IT academies, among other new facilities.

 

4-3: Organization of Disciplines:

 

The units of organization in the academia are: the university (the major unit), the college (the section), and the faculty (or department: the sub-section).

Social science disciplines are organized in four major forms: discrete, educational, embedded (or aggregated), and humanities. A fifth form is gender-based.

The discrete type is the oldest form: a separate unit per discipline. This applies to Political sciences, Law, and economics, and fine arts. They are detached from each other and from the neighbouring disciplines: political sociology, or anthropology, for example. No organic links exist between them.

The educational type aggregates various disciplines into one single college, The College of Education (Tarbiya), has a number of often unrelated number of social sciences (languages, literature, history, geography, philosophy, etc.), but combined with a host of natural sciences. The college is geared towards the production of secondary school or college teachers and lecturers. Recently the cluster of social sciences has been detached from the cluster pf natural sciences, breaking the old Education College into two different colleges.

The embedded type includes a number of social science disciplines that we usually find in the Education College, but they are now aggregated in the College of Arts, echoing an old American and French tradition brought via Egypt in the early 1950s. This is copying of the same disciplines; but whereas the Education College serves pedagogical ends, the Arts College is focused on theory and research. The wisdom of this duality of Education and Arts is questionable.

A new method of organization has been experimented in Sulaymania, where humanities have been separated from other social sciences and grouped into one college, with no replicas in the Arts College that is usually found in Baghdad and other provinces.

Lastly, the gender type includes several Colleges of Education for girls re-established recently to provide segregated social sciences learning.

 

 

4-4: Principles of Classification of Social Sciences:

 

The organization of universities into colleges and the division of colleges into faculties, is embedded in ready-made concepts borrowed from an alien cultural habitat, France or the US. Once the principle is applied, it would hardly change, irrespective of changes in the discipline themselves.

Another guiding principle is that Iraqi pedagogues gave more emphasis the practical rather than the theoretical value of various disciplines. To this very moment important disciplines like linguistics, anthropology, figure as ‘subjects’ within a larger discipline rather than being disciplines in their own right.

 

4-5: Curricula and reference books are centrally determined by the MHE; at one point even the final exams were centralized (1997-9). Faculties have the right to convey recommendation relative to the curricula. Only at the postgraduate levels has the college a measure of freedom in the selection of the curricula.

 

4-6: Terms of admission into the academia are centrally controlled. Higher education is officially viewed as social service of a kind, it is free for all. The only criterion was the degrees a candidate has in the secondary school final exams, an impersonal yardstick.

A measure of discrimination was introduced, favouring members of the ruling party, or government civil servants applying for postgraduate courses. By contrast, a positive discrimination was introduced in favour of talented applicants, irrespective of the degrees in exams: this applies to the college of fine arts.

 

4-7: Admission terms and conditions for social sciences favour secondary school graduates of the Literary Branch. Science secondary schools are mostly barred.

Choice of faculties is again made contingent on the degrees acquired. A hierarchy is set up, topped by Law, Political Sciences, Languages, Information, Literature, Education, down to Economics. The highest level requires 80-70 degrees (the highest mark is 100o, the passing threshold is 50o), the lowest is 60-65o. This differential puts economics at the bottom of the ladder. This arrangement hinders private choices and lowers the social value of most social science disciplines.

 

4-8: Terms and conditions of admission into post-graduate studies is partly achievement oriented (based on degrees). This does not apply to government-employed applicants. A similar discrimination favouring ruling party members existed before 2003.

Fine Arts and the Islamic Law faculties are exempted from these central conditions.

 

 

V- The Curricula, Text-Books, Methodology and Terminology

 

 

5-1: Social Science faculties teach some 25-35 subjects in four years. With few exceptions, each subject receives 2-4 hours weekly. The Curricula are determined, unified and standardized by the MHE who also control authorized textbooks. All disciplines must have the one and the same curriculum and textbook anywhere in the country.

Pedagogues interviewed revealed a strong inclination to ‘decentralize’ both the curricula and textbooks to give more freedom to faculties and their teaching staffs.

 

5-2: Central text-books, commissioned by the MHE, are standard and universal. Some text books examined by our team are twenty to thirty years old. Only few are ten years old. This mostly applies to theoretical subjects.

Iraqi pedagogues demanded that a time-line for the validity of any text-book should be set, and updating procedure should be introduced.

A single-text book per subject has also been criticized, and demands were strong for the introduction of a plurality of reference books (reading list).

The ‘tradition’ of preparing abridged manuals (summarizing the single central text-book) by tutors has also been disapproved by a host of pedagogues interviewed for this report.

Single-text books and concise manuals have become mere ‘exam-reference-points’ to be memorized verbatim, leading to poor knowledge.

 

5-2: Methodology is another major weak point in social sciences in Iraq. At present, this involves: general methodology, theoretical reference points, and terminology.

Examining these aspects, it was found that there is no specific course that clearly deals with methodology, rather with “Research Methods”. The latter is confined to writing techniques, and has two hours weekly for the first two academic years only.

 

5-3: Theoretical subjects: A- They are very low (20% of the curriculum) where theory is crucial to the discipline as in languages, history among others. B- Or they are too high to allow for field research where the latter is crucial (sociology and anthropology). C-Or the non-basic theory (i.e. theories from neighbouring disciplines, say politics in the Law faculty) is higher than basic-theory (relevant to the discipline). D- Interdisciplinary approaches are evidently wanting; E- A host of new subjects- seem to be missing, such as ethnic studies, nations and nationalism, gender issues, sociology of religion, social movements, political anthropology, security studies, conflict studies, comparative politics, the rule of law, philology, philosophy of arts, theories of literature, linguistics, philosophy of history, and so on.

 

5-4: Field research, Iraqi pedagogues agreed, is another weak point in such disciplines as sociology, and anthropology. No reference book or subject in the curriculum on field research or empirical method seemed to exist.

 

5-5: Terminology in Iraq, as indeed in the larger ME, is in state of chaos, a problem confirmed not only by the bulk of Iraqi academics interviewed, but also by the Arab Association of Sociologists, the Lebanese Sociological Society, and the Arab Organization of Translation. This, it seems, has been and may well continue to be a chronic problem.

Universities in Iraq offer few classes on ‘Definitions and Concepts’ in certain disciplines.

With no reference books on this topic, the lack of specialized dictionaries exacerbates the problemalthough a number of volumes (philosophical lexicons, a dictionary of economics, sociological glossary) have been produced in Beirut and beyond.

 

 

VI- Teaching Staff and Academic Qualifications

 

6-1- Constant migration of veteran tutors, suspension of scholarships abroad and political appointments of deans, all contributed to the decline of the quality and quantity of the teaching staff in Iraq’s universities.

6-2: In most social science faculties, dearth of foreign-educated holders of Ph. D. degrees was visible, signifying lack among tutors of knowledge of foreign languages and, by extension, of modern theories and approaches in relevant fields.

6-3: Most MA and Ph.D. holders have been locally trained and recently graduated, which again signifies weak and limited experience.

6-4: The ratio of MA to Ph.D. holders in the teaching staff is disproportionate.

6-5: Also observed is a divergence between the tutors’ and lecturers’ specialization and the subject-matter they teach.

All these remarks are quantified and substantiated in tables 1 to 6, covering each university by college and faculty.

 

6-6: In addition to the poor quality of the teaching staff, diversified teaching techniques are wanting. The basic and in fact only teaching technique observed is Lecture Format. No bullet-point presentation or usage of overhead projectors, or videos, no reading list, no workshop or conference formats, nor students’ presentation methods applied. Classrooms are overcrowded and lack technical wherewithal.

All tutors interviewed confirmed that lecturing is more geared towards giving and memorizing info than to discussion and promotion of independent thinking.

 

 

VII- Libraries:

 

7-1- Libraries in Iraq universities had their golden era up to the end of 1970s in qualitative and quantitative terms; academics refer to the 1980s and 1990s as the period of stagnation and deterioration of the libraries. With few exceptions, most academic libraries were either ransacked or damaged in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.

 

7-2- Libraries are organized along the same lines of universities: Large library for the university (top level), small library for each college in the university (medium level), and smaller library for each faculty or department in the college (lower level). But this three tier system applies only to Baghdad, Basra and Mosul universities.

Central libraries serve postgraduates and fourth year college students.

Students of the first three years are confined to the other libraries.

 

7-3- Quantitative survey of libraries reveals a growing gap between the increasing numbers of instituions and post-graduate students, on the one hand, and the size of libraries, on the other hand. No growth in libraries’ infrastructure (buildings, spaces, equipment or books and manuals) was visible in the period 1980 up to 2004. The size of foreign books is very low, at times even insignificant. In this regard, Basra and Salahudin (Erbil) Universities seem to be speedily improving; humble changes or stagnation reigns elsewhere.

 

 

7-4- The borrowing system at present is rigid and narrow: borrowing from the central libraries is confined to postgraduate and fourth year students. External borrowing sections are generally understaffed. Since registration of borrowing and book catalogues are manually done, processing is slow and cannot meet demands.

 

7-5- The working hours of the college and faculty libraries (medium and low levels) are between 8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m., but the borrowing window is very narrow: between 9 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. minus a break between 10-10.30 a.m., thus reducing the window to 3.5 hours before a huge number of students (in the thousands).

Working hours of the central libraries (the top level) was 12 hours (8.00 a.m. -8.00 p.m. throughout the 1980s); but were reduced to 9 hours in the 1990s; after 2003 they were lowered further to six hours (8.00 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

 

7-6- Electronic documentation is in its infancy. Not all universities or colleges have electronic systems to provide data base, audio and visual materials for the students. Photocopying facilities are also poor in numbers. No link was observed between the major Iraqi universities and world research centers or universities. Few exceptions exist (The Faculty of Law in Baghdad).

 

 

7-7-Libraries’ directors interviewed for this survey confirmed that no independent budget is earmarked for procurement of books and materials. The University usually has a general budget of which specific amount might or might not be allocated for libraries, pending on top decision. Libraries, they asserted, were never a priority. The libraries’ budgets examined by the team ranged between $350 and $ 2300.

 

 

7-8- No specific procedure for listing and purchase of new authorities was observed. Selection of titles and reference books for purchase is almost random, with poor coordination between faculty lecturers and library staff in this regard.

 

 

7-9- Survey of recent years revealed a massive and impressive growth in the size but not organization of the libraries of Basra and Erbil universities only.

 

7-10- Local academic thesis and dissertations are usually stored locally. The old system of providing all Iraqi universities with copies of every single academic paper, dissertation or thesis, a system that worked well in the 1980s, had been suspended and never restored.

Foreign and Arab dissertations are only available through the tradition of ‘gift’ (by authors), or private donations.

(Detailed tables on the state of library by region, university, and faculty are provided).

 

 

VIII- Academic Research Centers

 

8-1- Iraqi universities have some seventeen research centers, nine of which are concentrated in the capital, Baghdad. The overall number of researchers is 314 scholars.

 

 

8-2- There two types of research centers: the first is independent, supervised by the MHE’s Research Directorate. Administratively, the centers are part of the university administrative machine, and the authority to appoint the centers’ directors and research scholars rest with the MHE. Researchers are full-timers and article 5, No.148 – 202 of the MHE statutes require that they carry out three research papers annually.

The second type of research centers is dependent, i.e. being a section of universities or colleges, where researchers are non-compensated, voluntary part-timers doing research on their own, apart from their basic teaching tasks.

 

8-3- Te basic fields of specialization are: international relations, urban historical and documentary studies, psychological and pedagogical studies, law and politics, philosophy, geography, archeology, and fine arts.

 

 

8-4- Budget and funding are dependent on the university top decision maker (the dean); the budget is rather limited, and most directed to cover operational cost rather than funding research projects, notably field research which usually requires considerable funds. Hence most projects are theoretical in nature.

 

8-5- Publication of research periodicals are confined to some centers, usually quarterly reviews that print academic essays meant for staff promotion purposes. Quality of printing is in some cases very poor (copying) and the number of issues very limited. Basra may provide an exception.

 

 

 

IX- Post Graduate Studies, MA Dissertations and Ph. D thesis

 

9-1- Three samples of dissertation and thesis were examined: the first includes the academic studies for the years 2003 and 2004, which account for 324 and 720 texts respectively’ the second sample is drawn from Sulaymaniya and Erbil universities for the years 1992-2007, encompassing 609 texts; the third sample is taken from Basra University for the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, with 221 texts.

The first sample was inclusive of social and natural sciences; the two other samples were confined to social sciences.

 

9-2- The three samples showed a predominance of social science dissertations and theses (68 and 79 from the successive years of sample one).

 

9-3- Intra- and inter regional differences were evident: In Sulaymaniya, literary studies were predominant, followed by law; whereas studies in the fields of geography, history, economics, sociology, Islamic studies, were very low in number. A similar trend was observed in Basra.

By contrast, Erbil showed predominance of economic, law and geographic studies, a trend testifying to stronger orientation towards tackling urgent problems.

 

9-4- Most dissertations in all regions are principally descriptive; political papers seemed to steer clear of sensitive issues; while historical treatises were mostly focused on Islamic studies of conservative nature.

 

9-5- A set of common features in all regions is: 1- The greater number of treatises were in the field of Arabic (or Kurdish) literature and language and are of poor quality; 2- Law studies are in the second position, mostly relevant to actual judicial and legal problems (e.g. criminal, commercial law); 3- Economics comes third, and, like law, texts are relevant (private business, bank accounting, etc.); 4- History and Pedagogy are fourth in size, and both are descriptive and traditional in methodology and approaches; 5- treatises of sociology, anthropology, politics and philosophy are at the bottom of list in numbers, with weak relevance.

 

9-6- As of 2004 new trends were observed: growth in sociological studies; English language, administration-auditing and accountancy, media and fine arts. This upsurge may well be in response to the growth of private business, private media and translation.

 

 

X Sociopolitical Factors Hindering Development of Social Sciences

 

10-1 In growth or decline, the academies of higher learning are dependent on state policies. The state is the major fund provider, consumer of the academic products, and controller and monitor of the academic functions. This will remain largely so for the future.

 

10-2- By dint of state developmental creed or militarization drive, stronger emphasis was laid on natural and technical rather than social sciences. This trend is still in effect.

 

10-3- State policies in scholarship funding or academic terms of admission do not favor social sciences in general. There seems to be no indication to revise this policy.

 

10-4- Ideological leanings favor or tolerated by the central authorities (mostly conservative Islamist) generally hold as suspects a number of social science disciplines, and research topics, and give more support for the expansion of Islamic Law faculties.

 

10-5- Research projects undertaken by the postgraduates or academic research centers are subject to state ideological sensibilities and concerns.

 

10-6- With severe restrictions on the free flow of information and access to official archives, the scope of social research is drastically limited. Xenophobia and exposure paranoia are extremely harsh to date.

 

 

10-7- Up to 2005, state central allocations for higher learning accounted for 1% of the state budget, of which only 14.5% are capital expenditure (infrastructure, buildings, equipment, publications, and research projects). Given the unprecedented levels of corruption, little genuine increase should be expected.

 

10-8- Under these conditions, reliance on donor countries is increasing, and will continue to increase. Donors will set the tempo and orientation of scholarship or development that may or may not be in line with the academic urgent needs.

 

10-9- With varying degrees, most academic campuses are now being under the control of armed political groups that may well intervene to disrupt the normal course of teaching and research.

 

10-10- Political and criminal violence is targeting the academic staff, causing a new exodus into neighboring or foreign countries. Between April 2003 and November 2007, some 338 professors and lecturers have been assassinated, and 75 went missing. More than 3000 scholars fled to Syria, Jordan and Egypt, wearing the teaching staff even thinner.

10-11- While differentiation between social and natural sciences, or among various disciplines within social sciences, is largely horizontal in the west, a hierarchical social value system has developed, placing social sciences in general in an inferior status to natural sciences. Certain social science disciplines are shoved at the bottom of the scale. This double hierarchy is reinforced by the pay differentials, employment prospects, and cultural value-systems, among other things.

 

10-12- Traditional culture, and conservative value systems, mitigate against social sciences or against field and theoretical research.

 

10-13- With the re-introduction of private academies and the expansion of demand on academic products by regional and international parties, this inferior hierarchical social ranking might well change in favor of the bulk of social sciences.

 

XI- Conclusions

 

The survey may have presented a daunting picture of the state of social sciences; yet the potential for positive change exists. A new wave of scholarships abroad has started; the levels and forms of violence seem on the descending curve; central oil revenues are skyrocketing; private native and foreign academies are emerging and market for the Iraqi products and experts are on the rise.

This should open up a window for a thorough reform of policy. The central character of the educational system requires softening to allow a measure of decentralization that may trigger localized institutional initiatives to improve and pluralize the curricula, teaching techniques, text-books and expansion and digitalization of libraries. Continued scholarships abroad may well change the profile of the teaching staff in the coming years (5-10 years): more PH. D holders, better command of foreign languages, broader theoretical horizons in modern social science, better empirical studies and interdisciplinary approaches, and native authorship of reference books, lexicons and specialized academic journals, and more focused research effort.

A less violent environment might well help reverse the academic brain-drain and reverse the negative effects sustained thus far.

A more open political debate may allow more attention, and, by extension, greater allocations, to institutes of higher learning and their affiliated research centers. This should focus on hammering out an educational policy that may re-link academic development with the needs of society and state.

 

Taken together, these and other factors could well bring forth a quantum leap in the state of social sciences in Iraq in less than two decades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Baghdad region includes three universities only: Baghdad, Musansiriya and Nahrain; Kurdistan includes two universities only|: Salahudin and Sulaymaniya universites, the Midland covers Anbar, Tikrit and Diyala universities; Mid Euphrates includes Kufa, Karbala and Qadisiya universities; the South includes Basra and Thi Qar universities.

Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies

 

Conditions of Social Sciences in Iraq: A General Survey

 

 

Summary

 

I-                  Introduction

 

1-1: This report examines the conditions of social sciences in Iraq to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The research team included six academic figures from various disciplines and regions, together with six young assistant researchers.

 

1-2: The research plan was premised on Maurice Godelier’s definition of social sciences as inclusive of all faculties other than natural and technological sciences. Three clusters of determinants were examined: institutional (in the academia), political, and socio-cultural factors. The major focus, however, was laid on the institutional factors: organization of faculties, the curricula, the teaching staff, reference or text books, , problems of methodology and terminology, organization of faculties, libraries, among other determinants.

 

1-3: Field research plan began with the collection of quantitative data sets, and proceeded to examining qualitative aspects, both of which based on documents, interviews, and questionnaires that cover the last decade, and where possible even earlier.

 

1-4: The survey targeted three major regions: Kurdistan (Sulamaniya and Erbil), Baghdad, and the South (Basrah, Nassiriya and Amara, Kufa, Karbala and Diwaniya). The team managed to extend survey to two other provinces: Slahudin (Tikrit) and Anbar (Ramadi and Falluja).

 

1-5: The IIST team received a warm support from deputy prime minister Dr. Salam Zaoubai, the minister of Higher Education Mr. Abid Thiyab Ujaili, the minister of Scientific Reasearch Mr. Raid Fahmi, and the ex-Planning Minister, Dr. Mahdi Hafiz. A countless host of colleagues from the academia extended support to our team.

 

1-6: The report is divided into eight sections as follows:

 

 

I-                  General background and Overview:

 

2-1: The modern system of higher education was centrally introduced by the newly created Iraq nation-state since 1921. It took three decades before Baghdad University would emerge in 1957 to serve the needs of state and society in their process of modernization.

 

2-2: Throughout the seven decades of their existence, Iraqi academies had two distinct phases. The first phase was one of systematic quantitative and qualitative growth; by contrast phase two was one of moderate quantitative growth, but of gradual, but steady, decline in qualitative terms.

 

2-3: The last quarter of century was particularly negative: structural dynamics of decline were set in motion that weakened academies, and almost crippled social sciences. These are political, institutional, and socio-cultural factors.

 

2-4: Politically, the central (government) promoted natural and technological sciences, at least in terms of funding and scholarship. By contrast, social sciences were heavily censored in line with the monist ideology of the ruling party, and were also manipulated for social and ideological engineering ends.

 

2-5: Institutionally, the structural organization of the social science faculties that was established in the fifties, has hardly sustained any rethinking. No new disciplines were added (e.g. anthropology, linguistics). The same applies to the curricula, text books, and teaching techniques, among other things.

2-6: Socio-culturally: By norms of state and society, most social sciences were held low. This was translated in admission terms, salaries, and employment opportunities of graduates.

 

 

2-7: Wars (1980-8 and 1990-1) and sanctions (1990-2003) drained much of central resources. As a result, a brain-drain ensued and academies were cut-off from the world and impoverished.

 

2-8: The invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 has demolished the old state structures and initiated a macabre political process fraught with uncertainties. Sundry dynamics were set in motion:

On the one hand, academies re-linked with the world through scholarship, the internet, the freedom of travel, unrestricted importation of books and freedom of publication. Teaching staff salaries improved (from $8 to a minimum of $450). Faculty deans were now elected. With the presence of international bodies, agencies and firms demand on local research and knowledge ended state monopoly of the ‘market’ for academic products.

On the other hand, political and criminal violence exacerbated the Islamic-conservative influence over academic life. New forms of restrictions on the teaching process and the curricula were evident. A life-threatening atmosphere triggered a new wave of academic exodus abroad. These developments almost neutralized the positive developments mentioned above.

The continuation of political violence and instability may well hamper prospects of development.

 

 

II-                 National Regional and Sectoral Growth: Academies, Teaching Staff, and Students:

 

 

3-1- Higher learning was confined to one central university based in the capital Baghdad.

Expansion beyond the centre to the provinces went through three stages:

Phase one began in 1964 with the foundation of two universities in Basra and Mosul provinces, followed by a third in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniya in 1969. A second university, Mustansiriya, was also established in Baghdad in 1963. This diffusion signaled a drive from the centre to the periphery, recognizing the growth of one million cities (Mosul and Basra). The case of Sulaymaniya was to meet Kurdish demands for ethnic autonomy.

In the second phase, diffusion from the centre to the provincial peripheries went on, with each province having its own university, save Samawa and Amara which have colleges affiliated to Diwaniya and Basra universities.

The de facto Kurdish autonomy in the years 1990-2003 triggered a similar trend to expand universities to all three Kurdish provinces (five universities all).

As of 1988, central authorities retraced on their monopoly of higher learning and allowed a come back to private, native and foreign, academic institutes.

 

3-2- As a result of this expansion, Iraq has now 22 public universities and 20 private universities.

This trend brought about a similar increase in the number of social science faculties: sociology (from 1 to 8), philosophy (from 1 to 5), and so on.

This quantitative development has its merits, but with some disadvantages quality wise, since human and material resources were spread thin.

All universities at the moment fall under the jurisdiction of the central authority of the MHE in financial and administrative terms, but have come as of 2003 under the spell of local, often violent, politics. In the Kurdish region, universities are answerable to the regional finance and higher education ministries in Erbil and enjoy this measure of autonomy.

 

3-3- The general growth in the size of the students’ population bent on receiving higher education was the result of demographic growth, free public higher education, and the upward social mobility offered by receiving higher academic degrees. The ‘welfare state’ also pursued a policy of near total absorption of secondary school graduates into academic life as part of its social contract to offer full employment in order to buy political consent and live up to its proclaimed social ideals of equality, and of course to meet its needs, however limited, for experts. By this ‘inflationary’ policy, the ‘welfare state’ under the ancient regime thus deepened the detachment of academic development from the actual needs of state and society. With the UN imposed sanction in place in 1990, oil revenues deteriorated and the state policy of unlimited academic growth was doomed. Redundancy of the teaching staff soon followed, leading to a paradoxical situation: a growth in universities and students numbers coupled by a relative decrease in the size of the teaching staff. The trends of students population growth continued after 2003, and is analyzed in table No.1.

 

 

3-4- In the same period (1994-2007), a different, zigzag, trajectory is evident in the case of the higher education teaching staff. Their size during the years 1994-2003 remained more or less stagnant, largely due to the steady outflow of veteran tutors in search of political or economic security. A massive growth followed in the year 2003 (table 2 and 3).

 

 

3-5-Analyzing the growth of the academic teaching staff by region (Baghdad, Kurdistan, South, Midland, and Middle Euphrates)[1] during the period 2004-6 reveals a steady growth in absolute but not in relative terms within. In 2006, the distribution of the teaching staff region wise was as follows: Baghdad 50%, Kurdistan 10.7%, Midland 14.1%, Mid Euphrates 10.3%, the South 14.8. This distribution does not match the demographic weight of the regions, and all regions examined are understaffed, save Baghdad that accounts for roughly 25% of the population but accounts for 50% of the academic teaching personnel. The rates of growth in each region in the period 2004-6 were as follows: Baghdad 13.3%, Kurdistan 11.7%, Midland 26.6%, Mid Euphrates 20.1%, and the South 10.5%.

 

3-6- The relative national weight of the above regions within the context of overall national figures, on the other hand, went down between 2—4 and 2006; the decrease was mostly effected the uneven development (overgrowth in certain regions causing rations in other regions to sustain relative fall).

 

3-7-Sectoral (social science) profile during 2004-6 was not dissimilar: the social science teaching staff also sustained an absolute increase nationwide but relative decline in most provinces except Kufa and Karbala as a result of overgrowth of stable provinces, mild growth of others, and insignificant growth in beleaguered provinces. The relative decrease then signifies a redistribution and uneven growth region-wise. Najaf, Kufa and Karbala registered 44.7%, 26.1% and 23.1% growth. (tables 4).

 

3-8- In the same period (2004-6) the development of the overall students population by region is different from that of the reaching staff. While the general trend was that of steady increase, certain universities showed negative growth (Baghhdad -3.7 and Kufa -3.1), largely to due to political violence.

 

3-9- Sectoral (social science) students’ profile in 2004-6 is even worse than the regional students profile. The negative growth in the number of social science students seems more pervasive. The percentages were as follows: Baghdad -9.3, Nahrain -50.3, Kufa -30.9, Qadisiya -9.4, Karbala -3.4. The overall decrease of asocial science students by region was: Baghdad region -3.1, Mid Euphrates -17.3. This is largely caused by local armed conflicts and male chauvinism targeting female students. (table 6).

 

 

 

IV-Academic Institutions: Structures, Organization, Hierarchies and Norms

 

 

4-1: Centrality of the State:

A basic fact in the realm of education is the central role of the state. Central authorities finance, administer and control academic life from A to Z. Accordingly, state educational policies are crucial to the development of the academic life. These policies, however, changed course more often than not as political elites changed hands at the helm. There seem to be genuine differences between the liberal-moderate monarchic era (1921-1958), the centrist-Iraqi nationalist phase (1958-1963), or the Arabist-authoritarian military ‘Arif regime (1963-8), or the Arab-socialist Ba’ath (1968-2003), or the growing Islamist era (prevailing since 2004).

A common trend was to expand higher education in line with the growing function of the state and its growing needs for more technocrats and bureaucrats. Expansion was also part of a ‘social contract’ for full employment and wider distribution of oil benefits. Another common feature was to favour natural sciences and technology, in line with ‘developmental’ visions. A neutrality vis-à-vis social science was a marker of the monarchy only. Under the Ba’ath, police-like surveillance and monitoring of social sciences was almost the constant norm. Scholarship policies were tailored along these lines. And private academies were nationalized.

With few changes, the basic features of this centralism still prevail.

 

4-2: Hierarchical organization:

The educational pyramid is topped by the ministry of higher education (MHE) which is organized in six departments, three of which directly control the academic institutions, determining the contents of the curricula, the text books, admission terms, scholarships, post-graduate studies, salary levels, human resources, and the organization of universities and faculties.

According to MHE, there are plans to create 14 new colleges, 37 new college departments, 3 new IT academies, among other new facilities.

 

4-3: Organization of Disciplines:

 

The units of organization in the academia are: the university (the major unit), the college (the section), and the faculty (or department: the sub-section).

Social science disciplines are organized in four major forms: discrete, educational, embedded (or aggregated), and humanities. A fifth form is gender-based.

The discrete type is the oldest form: a separate unit per discipline. This applies to Political sciences, Law, and economics, and fine arts. They are detached from each other and from the neighbouring disciplines: political sociology, or anthropology, for example. No organic links exist between them.

The educational type aggregates various disciplines into one single college, The College of Education (Tarbiya), has a number of often unrelated number of social sciences (languages, literature, history, geography, philosophy, etc.), but combined with a host of natural sciences. The college is geared towards the production of secondary school or college teachers and lecturers. Recently the cluster of social sciences has been detached from the cluster pf natural sciences, breaking the old Education College into two different colleges.

The embedded type includes a number of social science disciplines that we usually find in the Education College, but they are now aggregated in the College of Arts, echoing an old American and French tradition brought via Egypt in the early 1950s. This is copying of the same disciplines; but whereas the Education College serves pedagogical ends, the Arts College is focused on theory and research. The wisdom of this duality of Education and Arts is questionable.

A new method of organization has been experimented in Sulaymania, where humanities have been separated from other social sciences and grouped into one college, with no replicas in the Arts College that is usually found in Baghdad and other provinces.

Lastly, the gender type includes several Colleges of Education for girls re-established recently to provide segregated social sciences learning.

 

 

4-4: Principles of Classification of Social Sciences:

 

The organization of universities into colleges and the division of colleges into faculties, is embedded in ready-made concepts borrowed from an alien cultural habitat, France or the US. Once the principle is applied, it would hardly change, irrespective of changes in the discipline themselves.

Another guiding principle is that Iraqi pedagogues gave more emphasis the practical rather than the theoretical value of various disciplines. To this very moment important disciplines like linguistics, anthropology, figure as ‘subjects’ within a larger discipline rather than being disciplines in their own right.

 

4-5: Curricula and reference books are centrally determined by the MHE; at one point even the final exams were centralized (1997-9). Faculties have the right to convey recommendation relative to the curricula. Only at the postgraduate levels has the college a measure of freedom in the selection of the curricula.

 

4-6: Terms of admission into the academia are centrally controlled. Higher education is officially viewed as social service of a kind, it is free for all. The only criterion was the degrees a candidate has in the secondary school final exams, an impersonal yardstick.

A measure of discrimination was introduced, favouring members of the ruling party, or government civil servants applying for postgraduate courses. By contrast, a positive discrimination was introduced in favour of talented applicants, irrespective of the degrees in exams: this applies to the college of fine arts.

 

4-7: Admission terms and conditions for social sciences favour secondary school graduates of the Literary Branch. Science secondary schools are mostly barred.

Choice of faculties is again made contingent on the degrees acquired. A hierarchy is set up, topped by Law, Political Sciences, Languages, Information, Literature, Education, down to Economics. The highest level requires 80-70 degrees (the highest mark is 100o, the passing threshold is 50o), the lowest is 60-65o. This differential puts economics at the bottom of the ladder. This arrangement hinders private choices and lowers the social value of most social science disciplines.

 

4-8: Terms and conditions of admission into post-graduate studies is partly achievement oriented (based on degrees). This does not apply to government-employed applicants. A similar discrimination favouring ruling party members existed before 2003.

Fine Arts and the Islamic Law faculties are exempted from these central conditions.

 

 

V- The Curricula, Text-Books, Methodology and Terminology

 

 

5-1: Social Science faculties teach some 25-35 subjects in four years. With few exceptions, each subject receives 2-4 hours weekly. The Curricula are determined, unified and standardized by the MHE who also control authorized textbooks. All disciplines must have the one and the same curriculum and textbook anywhere in the country.

Pedagogues interviewed revealed a strong inclination to ‘decentralize’ both the curricula and textbooks to give more freedom to faculties and their teaching staffs.

 

5-2: Central text-books, commissioned by the MHE, are standard and universal. Some text books examined by our team are twenty to thirty years old. Only few are ten years old. This mostly applies to theoretical subjects.

Iraqi pedagogues demanded that a time-line for the validity of any text-book should be set, and updating procedure should be introduced.

A single-text book per subject has also been criticized, and demands were strong for the introduction of a plurality of reference books (reading list).

The ‘tradition’ of preparing abridged manuals (summarizing the single central text-book) by tutors has also been disapproved by a host of pedagogues interviewed for this report.

Single-text books and concise manuals have become mere ‘exam-reference-points’ to be memorized verbatim, leading to poor knowledge.

 

5-2: Methodology is another major weak point in social sciences in Iraq. At present, this involves: general methodology, theoretical reference points, and terminology.

Examining these aspects, it was found that there is no specific course that clearly deals with methodology, rather with “Research Methods”. The latter is confined to writing techniques, and has two hours weekly for the first two academic years only.

 

5-3: Theoretical subjects: A- They are very low (20% of the curriculum) where theory is crucial to the discipline as in languages, history among others. B- Or they are too high to allow for field research where the latter is crucial (sociology and anthropology). C-Or the non-basic theory (i.e. theories from neighbouring disciplines, say politics in the Law faculty) is higher than basic-theory (relevant to the discipline). D- Interdisciplinary approaches are evidently wanting; E- A host of new subjects- seem to be missing, such as ethnic studies, nations and nationalism, gender issues, sociology of religion, social movements, political anthropology, security studies, conflict studies, comparative politics, the rule of law, philology, philosophy of arts, theories of literature, linguistics, philosophy of history, and so on.

 

5-4: Field research, Iraqi pedagogues agreed, is another weak point in such disciplines as sociology, and anthropology. No reference book or subject in the curriculum on field research or empirical method seemed to exist.

 

5-5: Terminology in Iraq, as indeed in the larger ME, is in state of chaos, a problem confirmed not only by the bulk of Iraqi academics interviewed, but also by the Arab Association of Sociologists, the Lebanese Sociological Society, and the Arab Organization of Translation. This, it seems, has been and may well continue to be a chronic problem.

Universities in Iraq offer few classes on ‘Definitions and Concepts’ in certain disciplines.

With no reference books on this topic, the lack of specialized dictionaries exacerbates the problemalthough a number of volumes (philosophical lexicons, a dictionary of economics, sociological glossary) have been produced in Beirut and beyond.

 

 

VI- Teaching Staff and Academic Qualifications

 

6-1- Constant migration of veteran tutors, suspension of scholarships abroad and political appointments of deans, all contributed to the decline of the quality and quantity of the teaching staff in Iraq’s universities.

6-2: In most social science faculties, dearth of foreign-educated holders of Ph. D. degrees was visible, signifying lack among tutors of knowledge of foreign languages and, by extension, of modern theories and approaches in relevant fields.

6-3: Most MA and Ph.D. holders have been locally trained and recently graduated, which again signifies weak and limited experience.

6-4: The ratio of MA to Ph.D. holders in the teaching staff is disproportionate.

6-5: Also observed is a divergence between the tutors’ and lecturers’ specialization and the subject-matter they teach.

All these remarks are quantified and substantiated in tables 1 to 6, covering each university by college and faculty.

 

6-6: In addition to the poor quality of the teaching staff, diversified teaching techniques are wanting. The basic and in fact only teaching technique observed is Lecture Format. No bullet-point presentation or usage of overhead projectors, or videos, no reading list, no workshop or conference formats, nor students’ presentation methods applied. Classrooms are overcrowded and lack technical wherewithal.

All tutors interviewed confirmed that lecturing is more geared towards giving and memorizing info than to discussion and promotion of independent thinking.

 

 

VII- Libraries:

 

7-1- Libraries in Iraq universities had their golden era up to the end of 1970s in qualitative and quantitative terms; academics refer to the 1980s and 1990s as the period of stagnation and deterioration of the libraries. With few exceptions, most academic libraries were either ransacked or damaged in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.

 

7-2- Libraries are organized along the same lines of universities: Large library for the university (top level), small library for each college in the university (medium level), and smaller library for each faculty or department in the college (lower level). But this three tier system applies only to Baghdad, Basra and Mosul universities.

Central libraries serve postgraduates and fourth year college students.

Students of the first three years are confined to the other libraries.

 

7-3- Quantitative survey of libraries reveals a growing gap between the increasing numbers of instituions and post-graduate students, on the one hand, and the size of libraries, on the other hand. No growth in libraries’ infrastructure (buildings, spaces, equipment or books and manuals) was visible in the period 1980 up to 2004. The size of foreign books is very low, at times even insignificant. In this regard, Basra and Salahudin (Erbil) Universities seem to be speedily improving; humble changes or stagnation reigns elsewhere.

 

 

7-4- The borrowing system at present is rigid and narrow: borrowing from the central libraries is confined to postgraduate and fourth year students. External borrowing sections are generally understaffed. Since registration of borrowing and book catalogues are manually done, processing is slow and cannot meet demands.

 

7-5- The working hours of the college and faculty libraries (medium and low levels) are between 8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m., but the borrowing window is very narrow: between 9 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. minus a break between 10-10.30 a.m., thus reducing the window to 3.5 hours before a huge number of students (in the thousands).

Working hours of the central libraries (the top level) was 12 hours (8.00 a.m. -8.00 p.m. throughout the 1980s); but were reduced to 9 hours in the 1990s; after 2003 they were lowered further to six hours (8.00 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

 

7-6- Electronic documentation is in its infancy. Not all universities or colleges have electronic systems to provide data base, audio and visual materials for the students. Photocopying facilities are also poor in numbers. No link was observed between the major Iraqi universities and world research centers or universities. Few exceptions exist (The Faculty of Law in Baghdad).

 

 

7-7-Libraries’ directors interviewed for this survey confirmed that no independent budget is earmarked for procurement of books and materials. The University usually has a general budget of which specific amount might or might not be allocated for libraries, pending on top decision. Libraries, they asserted, were never a priority. The libraries’ budgets examined by the team ranged between $350 and $ 2300.

 

 

7-8- No specific procedure for listing and purchase of new authorities was observed. Selection of titles and reference books for purchase is almost random, with poor coordination between faculty lecturers and library staff in this regard.

 

 

7-9- Survey of recent years revealed a massive and impressive growth in the size but not organization of the libraries of Basra and Erbil universities only.

 

7-10- Local academic thesis and dissertations are usually stored locally. The old system of providing all Iraqi universities with copies of every single academic paper, dissertation or thesis, a system that worked well in the 1980s, had been suspended and never restored.

Foreign and Arab dissertations are only available through the tradition of ‘gift’ (by authors), or private donations.

(Detailed tables on the state of library by region, university, and faculty are provided).

 

 

VIII- Academic Research Centers

 

8-1- Iraqi universities have some seventeen research centers, nine of which are concentrated in the capital, Baghdad. The overall number of researchers is 314 scholars.

 

 

8-2- There two types of research centers: the first is independent, supervised by the MHE’s Research Directorate. Administratively, the centers are part of the university administrative machine, and the authority to appoint the centers’ directors and research scholars rest with the MHE. Researchers are full-timers and article 5, No.148 – 202 of the MHE statutes require that they carry out three research papers annually.

The second type of research centers is dependent, i.e. being a section of universities or colleges, where researchers are non-compensated, voluntary part-timers doing research on their own, apart from their basic teaching tasks.

 

8-3- Te basic fields of specialization are: international relations, urban historical and documentary studies, psychological and pedagogical studies, law and politics, philosophy, geography, archeology, and fine arts.

 

 

8-4- Budget and funding are dependent on the university top decision maker (the dean); the budget is rather limited, and most directed to cover operational cost rather than funding research projects, notably field research which usually requires considerable funds. Hence most projects are theoretical in nature.

 

8-5- Publication of research periodicals are confined to some centers, usually quarterly reviews that print academic essays meant for staff promotion purposes. Quality of printing is in some cases very poor (copying) and the number of issues very limited. Basra may provide an exception.

 

 

 

IX- Post Graduate Studies, MA Dissertations and Ph. D thesis

 

9-1- Three samples of dissertation and thesis were examined: the first includes the academic studies for the years 2003 and 2004, which account for 324 and 720 texts respectively’ the second sample is drawn from Sulaymaniya and Erbil universities for the years 1992-2007, encompassing 609 texts; the third sample is taken from Basra University for the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, with 221 texts.

The first sample was inclusive of social and natural sciences; the two other samples were confined to social sciences.

 

9-2- The three samples showed a predominance of social science dissertations and theses (68 and 79 from the successive years of sample one).

 

9-3- Intra- and inter regional differences were evident: In Sulaymaniya, literary studies were predominant, followed by law; whereas studies in the fields of geography, history, economics, sociology, Islamic studies, were very low in number. A similar trend was observed in Basra.

By contrast, Erbil showed predominance of economic, law and geographic studies, a trend testifying to stronger orientation towards tackling urgent problems.

 

9-4- Most dissertations in all regions are principally descriptive; political papers seemed to steer clear of sensitive issues; while historical treatises were mostly focused on Islamic studies of conservative nature.

 

9-5- A set of common features in all regions is: 1- The greater number of treatises were in the field of Arabic (or Kurdish) literature and language and are of poor quality; 2- Law studies are in the second position, mostly relevant to actual judicial and legal problems (e.g. criminal, commercial law); 3- Economics comes third, and, like law, texts are relevant (private business, bank accounting, etc.); 4- History and Pedagogy are fourth in size, and both are descriptive and traditional in methodology and approaches; 5- treatises of sociology, anthropology, politics and philosophy are at the bottom of list in numbers, with weak relevance.

 

9-6- As of 2004 new trends were observed: growth in sociological studies; English language, administration-auditing and accountancy, media and fine arts. This upsurge may well be in response to the growth of private business, private media and translation.

 

 

X Sociopolitical Factors Hindering Development of Social Sciences

 

10-1 In growth or decline, the academies of higher learning are dependent on state policies. The state is the major fund provider, consumer of the academic products, and controller and monitor of the academic functions. This will remain largely so for the future.

 

10-2- By dint of state developmental creed or militarization drive, stronger emphasis was laid on natural and technical rather than social sciences. This trend is still in effect.

 

10-3- State policies in scholarship funding or academic terms of admission do not favor social sciences in general. There seems to be no indication to revise this policy.

 

10-4- Ideological leanings favor or tolerated by the central authorities (mostly conservative Islamist) generally hold as suspects a number of social science disciplines, and research topics, and give more support for the expansion of Islamic Law faculties.

 

10-5- Research projects undertaken by the postgraduates or academic research centers are subject to state ideological sensibilities and concerns.

 

10-6- With severe restrictions on the free flow of information and access to official archives, the scope of social research is drastically limited. Xenophobia and exposure paranoia are extremely harsh to date.

 

 

10-7- Up to 2005, state central allocations for higher learning accounted for 1% of the state budget, of which only 14.5% are capital expenditure (infrastructure, buildings, equipment, publications, and research projects). Given the unprecedented levels of corruption, little genuine increase should be expected.

 

10-8- Under these conditions, reliance on donor countries is increasing, and will continue to increase. Donors will set the tempo and orientation of scholarship or development that may or may not be in line with the academic urgent needs.

 

10-9- With varying degrees, most academic campuses are now being under the control of armed political groups that may well intervene to disrupt the normal course of teaching and research.

 

10-10- Political and criminal violence is targeting the academic staff, causing a new exodus into neighboring or foreign countries. Between April 2003 and November 2007, some 338 professors and lecturers have been assassinated, and 75 went missing. More than 3000 scholars fled to Syria, Jordan and Egypt, wearing the teaching staff even thinner.

10-11- While differentiation between social and natural sciences, or among various disciplines within social sciences, is largely horizontal in the west, a hierarchical social value system has developed, placing social sciences in general in an inferior status to natural sciences. Certain social science disciplines are shoved at the bottom of the scale. This double hierarchy is reinforced by the pay differentials, employment prospects, and cultural value-systems, among other things.

 

10-12- Traditional culture, and conservative value systems, mitigate against social sciences or against field and theoretical research.

 

10-13- With the re-introduction of private academies and the expansion of demand on academic products by regional and international parties, this inferior hierarchical social ranking might well change in favor of the bulk of social sciences.

 

XI- Conclusions

 

The survey may have presented a daunting picture of the state of social sciences; yet the potential for positive change exists. A new wave of scholarships abroad has started; the levels and forms of violence seem on the descending curve; central oil revenues are skyrocketing; private native and foreign academies are emerging and market for the Iraqi products and experts are on the rise.

This should open up a window for a thorough reform of policy. The central character of the educational system requires softening to allow a measure of decentralization that may trigger localized institutional initiatives to improve and pluralize the curricula, teaching techniques, text-books and expansion and digitalization of libraries. Continued scholarships abroad may well change the profile of the teaching staff in the coming years (5-10 years): more PH. D holders, better command of foreign languages, broader theoretical horizons in modern social science, better empirical studies and interdisciplinary approaches, and native authorship of reference books, lexicons and specialized academic journals, and more focused research effort.

A less violent environment might well help reverse the academic brain-drain and reverse the negative effects sustained thus far.

A more open political debate may allow more attention, and, by extension, greater allocations, to institutes of higher learning and their affiliated research centers. This should focus on hammering out an educational policy that may re-link academic development with the needs of society and state.

 

Taken together, these and other factors could well bring forth a quantum leap in the state of social sciences in Iraq in less than two decades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Baghdad region includes three universities only: Baghdad, Musansiriya and Nahrain; Kurdistan includes two universities only|: Salahudin and Sulaymaniya universites, the Midland covers Anbar, Tikrit and Diyala universities; Mid Euphrates includes Kufa, Karbala and Qadisiya universities; the South includes Basra and Thi Qar universities.