The Opinion Committee within the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has voted on a resolution to honor the top-ranked student in the diagnostic examination for the medical and health-related field in government universities. Additionally, the top three students in the same examination are to be exempted from tuition fees in government and private universities, with a full exemption for the first-ranked student, a 50% exemption for the second-ranked student, and a 25% exemption for the third-ranked student.

During the meeting chaired by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Na’im Al-Abboudi, the diagnostic examination indicators were discussed. The examinations were undertaken by 129,939 male and female students across government and private universities, within the disciplines of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and medical laboratory technologies. The committee members voted on several resolutions regarding this matter:

– Honoring the top-ranked student in the diagnostic examination in government universities with a financial reward.
– Granting a full tuition fee exemption (100%) for the first-ranked student, 50% for the second-ranked student, and 25% for the third-ranked student in both government and private universities.
– The Committee of Deans of Health and Medical Technical Specialties will identify other specialties to be included in the diagnostic examination.
– Deans’ committees (dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, health, and medical technical specialties) are tasked with adding additional subjects to the diagnostic examination for academic levels, replacing two subjects.
– Extending the diagnostic examination to include engineering colleges (third and fourth years), law colleges (second, third, and fourth years), and engineering technologies (third and fourth years).
– The suspension of the introduction of evening studies in nursing departments in universities and private colleges.
– The introduction of medical laboratory departments in universities and private colleges only in cases of scientific partnership with government universities.
– Suspension of admissions for a full academic year for departments with a success rate of less than 10%.
– Necessary actions will be taken against the dean of the college, department head, and instructor for failing to achieve a 30% pass rate in the diagnostic examination, including deducting a portion of the capacity of the lagging departments.
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Na’im Al-Abboudi, urged all universities to support students and empower them with the philosophy and skills related to the specialties covered by the diagnostic examination. This examination has yielded positive results in evaluating the performance indicators of the educational process in the medical and health-related fields that directly impact society.

The attendees also discussed other topics on the agenda of the eighth regular meeting of the Opinion Committee and voted positively on:

– Increasing the admission plan for the private morning education channel in Jabir bin Hayyan University of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Ibn Sina University of Medical Sciences, equivalent to their central admission plan.
– Introducing evening studies in the Electronics and Communications Engineering department at the College of Engineering at Al-Qadisiyah University and the Archaeology department at the College of Arts at Samarra University.
The Minister of Education concluded the meeting by emphasizing the need to intensify scientific and procedural efforts related to adopting the Bologna process in engineering and science colleges, enhancing collaboration in scientific research with researchers from international universities, and improving quality and the university environment to contribute to the development of Iraqi universities’ international rankings.