American University takes root in northern Iraq
Tucked away in the heart of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, a U.S. style university with bold plans to attract the country's top talent has quickly found a following among young Iraqis.
The American University in Iraq, which threw open its doors to students last January, has seen its enrollment soar almost sixfold in its second academic year.
"There is incredible demand for this kind of thing," said Joshua Mitchell, the school's chancellor. "Frankly, our limitation right now is space."
The jump in enrollment — from 48 last year to 256 this year — left the university scrambling to hire extra teachers, throw up temporary buildings to house more classrooms and find dormitories to accommodate the influx of students.
The university has already started construction on a sprawling new campus with five quads containing dormitories and classrooms near the Sulaimaniyah airport.
Work began last January on the site's administrative building and Mitchell said the university hopes to push forward with the rest of the construction as funds allow.
The U.S. government has pledged $10 million to build a power plant to provide electricity to the university's new campus but another $500 million is needed to complete the full project, Mitchell said.
That would allow the school to reach its goal of boosting enrollment to some 10,000 students in 10 to 15 years...
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