On the 19th and 20th of February, 2024, several students of Erbil Polytechnic University participated in the (Annual University Students Conference) at the Ain University in the UAE.
The Students of our university participated in four academic projects in Erbil Technical Colleges of Administrative and Engineering were (Farhad Amin Ali under the supervision of Ms. Delvin Hassan, Yad Farhad Hamakhan under the supervision of Ms. Bariza Badi, Mohammed Safin under the supervision of Dr. Rafah Rashid, Zeina Mohammed Jamil supervised by Ms. Tavga Mahdi Aziz) in the fields of engineering, accounting and marketing.
Erbil Polytechnic University is an active member of the Union of Arab Universities and the participation of our students in this conference is within the framework of the programs of the Union of Arab Universities.
On Monday, the 26th of February, 2024, Prof. Dr. Edrees Muhamad Tahir Harki, the Rector of the Erbil Polytechnic University, led a delegation to participate in the “Roadmap Meeting to Combat Drugs and Psychological Effects” arranged by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
In the meeting session, the minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and several presidents of public and private universities, members of the High Committee to Fight Drugs, consultants, general directors, teachers, researchers, lawyers and experts.
The delegation of the Erbil Polytechnic University consisted of Asst. Prof. Yousef Mustafa Rasul, the Vice Rector for Student Affairs; Dr. Hataw Karim, and Dr. Ali Abdullah Saleh, academic staff of our University, Mr. Sarmand Nasraddin, the Administrative Director of the University Presidency and also an activist in the field of fighting drugs.
After reading several speeches, the agenda of the meeting started. For this purpose, two panels were held by Dr. Sabah Ibrahim Wais, the consultant of the Minister of Higher Education; Dr. Khatab Ahmad Mustafa, the Director of Education, Planning and Monitoring, the researchers and experts in the field discussed different aspects of drugs and expressed different opinions on how to set the roadmap of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to combat drugs and psychotropic substances.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Kurdistan Regional Government, has a major role in spreading awareness, capacity building, research and development, integrating drug issues into curricula, scientific use of media, social media and technology, as well as activating student counseling centers in universities to combat drugs and psychotropic substances. A special high committee has been formed with the participation of representatives of all ministries.
In this context, Erbil Polytechnic University has actively participated in the drafting of the roadmap to combat drugs, which is supervised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
On Thursday, the 22nd of February, 2024, in the presence of Prof. Dr. Edrees Muhamad Tahir Harki, the Rector of the Erbil Polytechnic University; Dr. Zhala Saeed Khatat, the General Director of the Research and Development Office of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and the Vice Rectors of the University ended the eighth course of pedagogy in a ceremony and certificates were distributed on the participants of the course.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the Rector of the university delivered a speech in which he welcomed and congratulated the graduates and shed light on the importance of the course and said:
“On behalf of the council of the Erbil Polytechnic University, we want to congratulate the teachers who continued to teach the course for six months, especially those teachers who came from outside Erbil Polytechnic University and participated with us I express my gratitude towards. We also congratulate you teachers who successfully completed the course. After completing this course and obtaining this certificate you can apply to become a teacher in one of the universities in the Kurdistan Region.
In another part of his speech, the Rector said that pedagogical courses are a requirement to apply a request and become university teachers, the influence of the course that lasted for six months will have a great effect and very useful for you, a very good start to become a successful teacher. We have been university teachers for 30 years and we still need to study and prepare ourselves. We are trying to learn more about the sacred profession of teaching. Teaching is a sea and we must try to learn more every day and be successful especially in the university. You will not become a qualified and successful teacher with just one course. Suppose you have an average knowledge in your field and do not have many privileges, but you can be an excellent teacher and be much better than the teachers who have privileges. Therefore, from now and on and after receiving this certificate, build yourselves and become an excellent teacher which is important for us because you are here to become teachers, I warmly congratulate you and hope you serve successfully in Kurdistan universities.”
At the end of the ceremony, graduation certificates were awarded to the teachers participated in the eighth course of pedagogy at the Erbil Polytechnic University.
It is worth mentioning that the attendees of the eighth course of pedagogy in the Erbil Polytechnic University consisted of 69 students who supervised a number of teachers inside and outside the Erbil Polytechnic University for six months.
On Wednesday, the 21st of February, 2024, in the hall of the University Cultural Center, in the presence of Prof. Dr. Edrees Muhamad Tahir Harki, the Rector of the Erbil Polytechnic University, several party and government officials, members of the university council, experts, academic staff Erbil Polytechnic University arranged a panel entitled “The Importance and Role of Language in the Survival of the Nation and Coexistence in Kurdistan”.
The panel began with a minute standing in silence for the souls of the martyrs of the Kurdish liberation movement and Kurdistan with the national anthem Ay Raqib mixed with several poems in the sweet Kurdish language.
Before the panel program, the university Rector delivered a speech: “In the name of God, on behalf of myself and the council of Erbil Polytechnic University, we warmly welcome the guests in general, especially the guests from outside our university, Dr. Rashad Miran, Professor Dr. Abdullah Hussein, Asst. Prof. Dr. Salar, Mr. Sabah, Mr. Steven ( Journalist), and Mr. Talaat Tahir.
The Mother Language Day falls on the 21st of February, and is celebrated every year by UNESCO. The history of this day goes back to the time when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan in 1952, on a day like today on February 21 Bangladeshis held a demonstration to demand the Pakistanis to study, communicate and be educated in their mother tongue. The Pakistani response to the Bangladeshis was arms and violence, they killed many of them. Later, Bangladesh gained independence and the 21st of February, 1999, was declared World Mother Language Day at the request of Bangladeshis to UNESCO.
Ladies and gentlemen, we Kurds understand the suffering of Bangladeshis very well. In the history of our country, we have often faced the trauma to destroy the Kurdish language and Kurdish nation. We at the Erbil Polytechnic University felt it necessary to play a role in celebrating these anniversaries. Our goal is to raise awareness, multilingualism, multicolor, multiculturalism, to be able to live together in a free country. Fortunately, today in Kurdistan, thanks to the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Kurdistan authorities, we have been able to achieve this goal to a large extent. The free coexistence of communities in Kurdistan has echoed in the region.”
Later the panel program was delivered which consisted of two topics, the first topic was entitled (Role and importance of mother tongue in the process of nation-building) with the participation of Asst. Prof. Dr. Salar Osman (Academic and author), Asst. Prof. Dr. Rashad Miran, the Vice President of Kurdish Academy, Steven Shani, Chaldean journalist and activist, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Hussein Ruandzi, a lecturer of Kurdish Language Department of Salahaddin University, Prof. Tal’at Tahir Hamad Saadi, a lecturer of College of Language of Salahaddin University, in which the participants discussed in detail the importance of mother tongue in the nation-building process. Furthermore, they also discussed the coexistence of communities that are freely studying in their mother tongue in educational institutions thanks to the Kurdistan Regional Government. The panelists presented data on the number of schools and cultural centers related to the communities. The topics were enriched with questions and suggestions from the guests and students and their answers by the panelists.
The second topic of the panel was entitled (Mother Tongue and Coexistence in the Kurdistan Region) with the participation of M. Sabah Saleh Ahmad, Director General of Turkmen Teaching of the Ministry of Education, Prof. Sirwan Anwar Majid, a lecturer at Erbil Polytechnic University, Steven Shani, a Chaldean journalist and activist, and Dr. Ali Abdullah Saleh, a lecturer at Erbil Polytechnic University The number of schools and cultural centers for the communities was presented with data. The topics were enriched with questions and suggestions of guests and students and their answers by the panelists.
Finally, Prof. Dr. Edrees Harki presented the awards of the Erbil Polytechnic University to the panelists and the topic managers, and thanked them again.
