The Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to South Africa, Dr Hisham Al-Alawi, recently expressed his country’s interest in engaging with DUT through academic collaborations, postgraduate research and student exchange programmes.

On Thursday last week (7 November 2014) Ambassador Al-Alawi met with Professor Darren Lortan, former Executive Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at DUT, and Anisa Vahed, Lecturer in the Dental Sciences Department. The meeting was held in the Vice-Chancellor’s boardroom at the Steve Biko Campus.

DUT International Education and Partnerships (IEP) Co-ordinator, Deva Govindsamy and IEP Executive Secretary, Lalitha Singh also attended the meeting.

Iraq’s Ministry of Education is interested in postgraduate research and student exchange programmes with DUT. In this regard, the Department of Higher Education and Training in South Africa, together with a delegation from Iraq drafted a proposal last year (2013) which is expected to detail the official bilateral agreement.

Prof Lortan said DUT was open to the collaboration and that the University was excited to benefit from this development. Last year (2013), Professor Ahmed Bawa, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at DUT, hosted Ambassador Al-Alawi at the University and welcomed the idea of co-operation between South Africa and Iraq.

He further updated the Ambassador on the academic activities of the different faculties and specialisations within the University. DUT works according to the German system which connects its academic activities with manufacturing for research and development.

Iraq’s education system is similar to South Africa’s and its official learning language is English. The University of Technology, Iraq, one of the country’s largest universities, has already expressed its interest to establish bilateral ties with DUT. The university is specialised in Engineering, Computer Sciences and Applied Sciences and Technologies.

-Gift Nyamapfene

Pictured: Third Secretary to the Ambassador of Iraq in South Africa, Shaymaa Al Shamaari; Prof Darren Lortan, former DUT Executive Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences; Anisa Vahed, Lecturer in the Dental Sciences Department at DUT and the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to South Africa, Dr Hisham Al-Alawi.