|
 The American University of Iraq in Sulaimani is a private, non- profit, comprehensive liberal arts American university situated in the progressive and safe city of Sulaimani, in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq.
AUI-S was initiated in 2004 by its Board of Regents and Trustees and it opened its doors in October 2007. AUI-S is currently accepting students in its pre-academic English language program, in its undergraduate programs, and in its post-graduate Masters in Business Administration program.
At all levels of instruction at AUI-S, learning is enhanced by way of small, interactive classes and close student-faculty relationships. The language of instruction is English throughout.
Why is AUI-S called an “American” University?
American colleges and universities are very distinctive things in this world. Most universities that are not American universities are institutes that have as their aim professional training, not a comprehensive, broad and liberal education. AUI-S not only will prepare you for a profession and make you an “expert” in your field, but it will also open up your mind more broadly, and educate you more widely.
Moreover, in many universities, especially in Iraq, you will enter a profession or a program of study not on the basis of your interest and abilities but as a result of an exam you took when you left high school. If you score high on the exam, you will become a doctor or engineer or scientist…if you score lower, you will be sent off to become something else. In an American university, we see your future differently. At AUI-S, once you are accepted, you choose what field of study you wish to pursue. We believe that the best professionals, the most dedicated individuals, are those who followed their interests and abilities as well as their intelligence. Since all students at AUI-S are superior in their intelligence and have scored well on their qualifying exams, once you are accepted, you (in consultation with your family) will have the ability to choose your major and pick your minor.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, AUI-S is an American university because unlike most education prevalent in Iraq, you will take an active part in your own education. You will be expected to ask questions in class and confer with your professors outside of class. You will, as a student, be expected to challenge the opinions of others in class and have your own views challenged in turn. You will not be the passive recipient of information – no class at AUI-S follows the standard “lecture-memorize-repeat” model found almost everywhere else. Instead, you will be expected to think for yourself, ask questions about what you’re reading, and, together with your fellow students, become member of a community of learners in every class.
Why is AUI-S called a “comprehensive” university?
Although it is still small, AUI-S intends in time to be a place that offers the widest variety of academic, scientific subjects and a full range of professional fields of study. Already, in its undergraduate program, AUI-S offers a BSc in Computer Systems and IT; a BBA in Business Administration; and a BA in International Studies. Within the next few years, it has plans to begin a degree program in Petroleum Engineering. Complementing these major fields of study, the university offers or will soon be offering minors in English, Political Science, Business Administration, Economics, and Management. As AUI-S moves to its new campus, new majors and minors will be added in many practical, professional, academic, and scientific fields so that the widest range of subjects can be studied.
Why is AUI-S called a “liberal arts” university?
The greatest colleges and universities in the United States often refer to themselves as “liberal arts” institutions. What this means is that they offer each student more than simply professional training, more than simply preparation for work. The liberal arts are those parts of your studies that will introduce you to different ways of understanding yourself, other people, and the world around you.
Every student who comes to AUI-S, no matter what field or profession he or she intends to pursue, will study some science and mathematics, some literature and history, some philosophy and social science. At AUI-S we want you to know more than simply your future profession; we want you to begin to see the world in all its complexity and wonder. We know that you, as students, have questions about many things – about other countries and their politics, about the world and how it works, about yourselves and human nature. So, we at AUI-S want to take a little time out from preparing you for your future jobs to open your eyes and your minds to a variety of subjects – scientific, philosophical, literary, historical, mathematical – so that you can become a person who is not just “trained” but “educated.”
Towards this end, all undergraduate students at AUI-S, no matter what their major, will take a common set of liberal arts courses during their first two years. During the first year, all students will study two semesters of English Composition and Public Speaking, two semesters of Science, two semesters of History, and one semester each of Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics, and a course in Philosophy and Ethics. In the second year, you will have the opportunity to take two more courses in Literature or in the Social Sciences.
In the end, we hope that, through the liberal arts, we at AUI-S can free your minds to think independently and see the world through more than just the confines of you career or station in life. We believe that liberty and education go together and that, in free societies, liberty and liberal education will lean on each other for their mutual support and assistance.
|
