On September 30, the Institute of International Education (IIE) hosted a roundtable discussion with Dr. Kemal Kerkuki, Speaker of Parliament in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, and a number of his colleagues on the U.S.-Iraqi higher education relationship and academic exchanges.

This discussion focused on the major new Human Capacity Development Program, recently launched by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, which seeks to send thousands of students from Iraqi Kurdistan abroad for Master’s and Ph.D. programs. IIE staff provided an overview of the U.S. higher education system, and discussed the process of applying to graduate school programs in the United States.

Dr. Kerkuki emphasized the importance of the continued collaboration between U.S. higher education institutions and those in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.