Iraq participated in the work of the Eighteenth Conference of Arab Ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which was held in the Democratic Republic of Algeria, in the presence of representatives of the League of Arab States, the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science, the International Organization for Education, Science and Culture, the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture, the Union of Arab Universities, the Union of Arab Scientific Research Councils, and the Office of Arab Education for the Gulf Countries.

The speech of Iraq delivered by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Nabil Kazem Abdel Sahib, during the conference held under the slogan: (Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World, on the Horizon 2030: Vision and Directions) stated that Iraqi educational institutions responded urgently and thoughtfully to scientific innovations The challenges were faced by adapting and coordinating with international organizations, keeping pace with the movement of scientific development, subjecting educational curricula to a comprehensive review, adopting a policy of continuous updating of curricula and specializations, and adopting simultaneous strategies that led to positive actions and results in the field of global classifications, sober global publication, quality, and academic accreditation.

In his speech to the Arab ministers of higher education and scientific research and the participating delegations, he announced the launch of the national program accreditation standards for medical colleges, colleges and institutes of engineering technologies and fine and applied arts, which were prepared by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research through the academic accreditation councils that were formed in all disciplines under the supervision of the departments concerned with quality assurance and academic accreditation.

He pointed out that the Higher Education Institution in Iraq is continuing to modernize its graduate studies programs and reformulate its programs in line with market needs and development requirements.

He added that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has recently approved a policy of open access to information and research in accordance with international frameworks that will enable researchers in our institutions to freely exchange published research papers, stressing that it is an introduction to the integration of our country with its Arab and international surroundings to be part of the open science project that guarantees the free flow of information.

The Minister of Education valued the conference’s response to Iraq’s invitation to hold the twentieth edition of the work of the post-coming session of the Arab Ministers of Higher Education Conference in Baghdad, stressing the Republic of Iraq’s keenness to embrace its brothers from Arab countries and work on coordination and joint action.

The Iraqi delegation, headed by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and which include Dr. Asaad Ghani Jihad the Director-General of the Financial and Administrative Department, and Dr. Ihab Naji Abbas the Director-General of Studies, Planning, and Follow-up, made an important contribution through their membership in the drafting committee of the final report of the conference and in formulating the conference’s recommendations that stipulated Inviting Arab countries to develop or update their national frameworks for qualifications and keep pace with the changes for their review when developing the common Arab framework and promoting scientific research in the humanities and social sciences, and taking into consideration the best Arab practices and experiences in this field, exchanging them and benefiting from them, focusing on applied research, encouraging its dissemination, making it available and linking it needs of the public and private economic and social sectors, and support for the major qualitative projects implemented by ALECSO in the areas of localizing artificial intelligence and Arab classification of universities, supporting the ALECSO Observatory by providing it with data and statistics for the education and scientific research sector, adopting the ALECSO initiative to use block chain technology in documenting scientific certificates and protecting them from forgery, and approving a project The executive plan for the general framework of Arab scientific research in the social, cultural and economic fields, and an invitation to the Arab League’s Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) to document best practices in the fields of scientific research, academic accreditation and governance and work to generalize them and transform recommendations for performance measurement indicators for the uses of artificial intelligence into a questionnaire and circulate it to Arab countries And follow-up progress in achievement periodically and coordinate with Arab countries to propose an Arab program for joint research projects and their financing mechanisms.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Nabil Kazem Abdel-Saheb, met the Director-General of the Arab Organization, Education, Culture and Science, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Walad Ammar, and they discussed the importance of Iraq’s participation in these activities and specialized meetings in which Iraqis occupy a distinguished position. And they discussed prospects for joint cooperation in the fields of university education and enhancing the climates for Arab academic communication.