MNNIT to help Iraq in tech education

MOTILAL NEHRU National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) will now help the war-ravaged Iraq get its institutions of technical education back on track.

The mega rebuilding effort will kick-off as soon as MNNIT works out finer details of the task with the Iraqi Ministry of Education and the Association of Iraqi Universities and signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with representatives of Republic of Iraq within the next two months.

This became clear after the Cultural Counselor from the Iraqi Embassy Dr Abdul Hussain G Sikhi arrived here on Sunday on a two-day visit to MNNIT.

He held a series of meetings with the MNNIT director Prof Arun Baran Samaddar and other top officials including the deans and the heads of various departments before leaving for New Delhi on Monday night.

“A formal request has been made to us and we have decided to extend all support to our Iraqi counterparts. I have already initiated some steps in this regard and will soon work on the details with two leading institutions of technical education in Iraq: the Baghdad Technical University and the Basra Technical University,” Prof Samaddar informed.

He said that once a joint plan of action is prepared, the MoU would be formally signed. “The plan is to get the MoU inked within two months,” he said.

MNNIT has all the autonomy it needs to undertake the rebuilding operation in foreign soil.

“We will be initiating the exercise through the Union Ministry of HRD and the Ministry of External Affairs later on. Once the partnership develops, it will also result in exchange programmes involving teachers and students besides collaborative research projects as well,” Prof Samaddar said.

During his visit, Dr Sikhi informed MNNIT officials of the problems existing in Iraq and expressed hope that the initiative will pave way for a long-term partnership with MNNIT.

Talking to Hindustan Times, the Cultural Counsellor from the Iraqi Embassy Dr Abdul Hussain G Sikhi said, “We are greatly impressed with the technical prowess of MNNIT and want it to play a vital role in Iraq. I am confident that our offer
will result in establishing a bond that will go a long way and prove beneficial for both the countries.”

Iraq is known to have also approached New Delhi-based Hamdard University to help its Pharma education institutions develop and evolve and is expected
to also get in touch with some other leading technical education institutions of India to help rebuild its educational infrastructure.