Erbil protests Tammo's assassination - Kurdish Globe

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The Kurdish Globe No. 325, Saturday, October 15, 2011 6 President of Salahaddin University: Academic standards are rising University to cooperate with Russian and German institutions PRESS PHOTO Dr. Ahmed Dizayee, preside dent of the Salahaddin Unive versity in Erbil, Kurdistan Region's largest university, said in an interview with The Kurdish Globe that the academic standards of the university are improving rather than declining. Dr. Dizayee, who paid a visit to Germany, said he was welcomed in Germany at a very high level. "I rece cently paid a visit to Russia and Germany," Dr. Dizayee told the Globe. "The rease son I went to Russia was because delegations from four Russian universities visited Salahaddin Universe sity in February last year. It was the first time four big Russian state universities paid a visit to Salahaddin University to develop ties with us.” Dr. Dizayee said that durie ing their visits, the delegate tions invited him to visit the universities in Russia. "We are planning to start coope erating with them in some fields, such as engineering, chemistry, architecture, physics, mathematics and others," said Dr. Dizayee. "We reached a cooperation agreement with them to help us in awarding scholae arships to our students." The Salahaddin Universite ty president said they have agreed with a Russian unive versity to launch Russian language training courses for interested applicants in Kurdistan. "This is a step toward paving the way for the launch of the Russian Language Department at our university." Describing his visit and the way he was received in both countries, Dr. Dizayee said he is proud Salahddin University has its position among the Iraqi and Kurdie ish universities, and that the delegation was welce comed at a very high level in Germany. There are some allegate tions about the decline in the academic quality at the university. Dr. Dizayee told the Globe that one should look into the factors behind the decline, which include the continuous wars in the country from the 1980s unte til 1998. "However, in the period between 1998 and 2003, there were some improveme ments, and after 2003, the development in the quality continued at a faster pace. So I can say that currently the level of our university is on the rise rather than the decline.” Regarding the quality of students applying for highe er education, Dr. Dizayee says that the Ministry of Education has to cooperate with his university to impe prove the quality of educate tion in the region. "We know that the Minie istry of Education is trying to bring about reforms and we are also trying on our side to improve our faculte ties and equipment, so we can produce a capable gene eration.” In terms of accommode dations for students and dormitories, the university is now facing some compe plaints from the students about shortage of accomme modations, and Dr. Dizaye yee says the main issue is that the Shawkat Sheikh Yaziddin Dormitory, the university's largest dorme mitory with a capacity of 1,700 students, is being reme modeled. Because delays in the work by the contracte tor, the remodeling proce cess, which should have been finished before the start of the academic year, it is not yet complete. "My message to the stude dents who used to stay there is that it would take some more time for the reme modeling to be finished, so they should not wait longe ger, but rather come and ask for other options from the university's residential office." According to Dr. Dizayee, Dr. Ahmed Dizayee, president of the Salahaddin University in Erbil the university is planning to organize an academic conference this month to celebrate the university's 30th anniversary. "The conference will be attended by 400 local and foreign university lecture ers, and more than 630 advisers and experts and many of our professors have been working on the project for more than a year, and to date,210 studie ies have been submitted for the conference." Post-graduate admission regulations change Hoping to solve issues regarding master's degree admissions, the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said applicants who fail to submit langguage and computer test certificates by Oct. 21, will be automatically disqualified for master's degrees at state universities. According to information available from the preside dency of the University of Salahaddin Hawler, the largest government-owned university in Kurdistan, the university has allocated 230 places for post-graduae ate students for the acade demic year 2011-2012. Vice President of Salahe Salahaddin University allocates 230 master's student places this year PRESS PHOTO A group of students attending a class at a Salahaddin University college. haddin University Dr. Ibrahe him HamaRash, said in an interview with The Kurdie ish Globe that allocating post-graduate places was at the sole discretion of depe partment heads. "This year, 850 applicants from different colleges and university departments have taken the entrance exams, of which 230 succe cessful applicants will be admitted," Dr. HamaRash told the Globe. "The Minie istry of Higher Education has set a deadline of Oct. 21 for the submission of the test certificates for Engle lish language and computer skills; otherwise they will be taken off the list withoe out being allowed to take part in the academic compe petition, which normally comes after these two basic tests." The reason behind this dece cision is because in previoe ous years, applicants were not obliged to submit their test certificates immediae ately, but were only asked to sign a letter stating they would do so during the course of their studies. This led to a situation where some applicants delayed submitting their certificates for up to two years, which created seve eral problems. The new rules obliging applicants to submit certificates in advance was welcomed by most university professors, who believe it will prevent problems. Some students who have applied for post-graduate studies say there are not enough places in the proge grams, and that more stude dents should be accepted. In the Department of Sociology and Social Scie ences, for example, 48 applicants are competing for six seats, two of which are allocated for socioloe ogy, two for anthropology and two scholarship places where successful students can choose their course of study. One graduate of the Sociology Department bele lieves having dozens of applicants competing for two seats may cause stude dents to feel hopeless. Another issue with postgraduate studies is that in Kurdistan a student can only apply to a department, and there's no chance to change the degree, once accepted. Other countries allow master's students to change their subject area. This means that if a depe partment doesn't ask for a post-graduate place, the graduates of that departme ment need to wait for an entire year, hoping their depe partment will have a place for the next academic year. The following year, when the department does have a place, applicants from preve vious years must compete for the place.
The Kurdish Globe No. 325, Saturday, October 15, 2011 7 Foreign recycling companies want to work in Kurdistan Government working to reduce environmental impact of trash GLOBE PHOTO/ Aram Koshki People shop at Erbil's Shekhalla Market where a pile of trash has been left in the middle of street. Around 1,500 tons of garbage and trash is collected every day in Erbil, capital of Kurdistan Region. It is a main factor in air, water and soil pollution. Kurdistan's Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism is planning to bring foreign recycling companies to recycle scrap materials in some of Kurdistan's cities. Muhammed Hussein, a shopkeeper, says store owners throw their scrap cartons and materials into the streets and contamine nate the environment. “I appreciate government's efforts to bring new recyce cling companies because the garbage in front of the shops infuriates people and is a factor in air pollute tion,” said Hussein. The scrap materials can be reused or recycled, using various processes, and can be turned into new products. Recycling makes sense in terms of conserving energy and economic resources. “Instead of throwing the garbage into landfills, it is better to recycle them. All natural resources eventuae ally run out, so let’s use recycled materials,” said a shopkeeper. For example, if every store throws away 10 carte tons daily, this adds up to millions of cartons a year. Many countries now recyce cle cardboard and paper to reduce deforestation. “Our recycling compane nies pay 750 tomans [650 Iraqi dinars] for per kilo of cardboard and the price for other scrap materials varie ies. Therefore, shopkeepe ers and families always keep separating useless garbage from those matere rials that can be reused,” said an Iranian man. Omar Khidhir, the civil environmental director at the Directorate of Techne nical, Environmental and Ray Protection told The Kurdish Globe that dumpie ing all garbage in one place can spread disease and pollute the air. He also said that garbage dumps also cause explosions bece cause of the gasses they produce. One Erbil dump has had an explosion. “The gases from garbage may also increase cancer rates and are a great dange ger to public health. There are some dangerous gases released, such as dioxin, when plastic materials burn,” said Khidhir. In addition, he said a recycling system and launching new high-tech recycling companies to rece cycle materials may help reduce pollution levels. Farhad Muhammed, spokesman of Ministry of Municipalities and Tourie ism of Kurdistan told the Globe that the ministry is planning to designate some areas for garbage disposal. He also said the ministry will bring new recycling companies and sign deals with them for trash collection and recyce cling. A recycling plant has alre ready been built in Duhok province and authorities in Suleimaniya province are planning to send garbe bage to a special center to use it to generate energy. The ministry plans to inve vite new foreign recycling companies to Erbil. There is one recycling plant in Erbil that recyce cles medical items and a few other materials from Erbil’s garbage center in Kani Qerzhala. “Erbil will have two garbe bage centers in the future, according to the ministry’s plans. There is a possibe bility that two different companies will manage the centers. The existing plant cannot recycle all the trash, so we will sign new contracts to solve the problem,” said Khidhir. Local authorities in the fifth cabinet of Kurdistan Region signed a contract with a Canadian company, because of lack of expere rience, to teach a staff to manage such projects. Companies from Britain, Turkey and The Netherle lands have also submitted proposals to the ministry. Garbage becomes an income source Some search dumps for scrap metal Due to poverty and unemployme ment, some resort to collecting items from the dump in Suleime maniya province to provide an income. Suleimaniya's garbage dumb is few kilometers from Tanjaro, southeast of Suleimaniye ya city. The dump receives 100 tons of garbage daily. Although many trucks drive fast in the area when they bring the garbage, and despite dump monitors, scores of people, of different ages and genders, carry sacks to look for items. They colle lect aluminum and copper which have value as scrap metal. Karwan is a teenager who has no father and has been makie ing a living collecting items for two years. "Life is not nice here because many times the older people stop me from collectie ing good items." Kawan makes around 10,000 Iraqi dinars a day, which is enough to cover his daily needs. Some of the scrap collectors are experienced enough to recoe ognize the trucks bringing garbe bage from rich neighborhoods; they follow the trucks to see where the garbage is dumped. "I can tell which truck is loaded with items from the rich neighbe borhoods. That is why I don't spend my time with the trucks that come from poor neighborhe hoods because there is nothing I can make money from, except soda cans or cheap items," said Emad Noori, another collector Ali, Noori's friend, thinks diffe ferently; he collects as much as he can even from the garbage that comes from low-income areas because he has to make enough money to support his three children. Ali turned to this occupate tion when he developed a back problem while working as an apprentice builder. Since then, he is unable to do work that is physically demanding, such as construction. The best day for Noori was when he found a piece of gold while looking for aluminum at the dump. He sold the piece for 2 million ID ($1,660). That day, Noori treated his friend Ali to dinner at a restaurant. Asked if the garbage smell has a negative impact on their health, Noori said "Actually it harms our health, but somete times we use masks if we think the smell is very disgusting and bothersome." Barham Nasraddin, an econome mist, believes the misuse of Kurdistan Region's budget rese sulted in unemployment and poverty. "If there were a good plan to spend the budget in an organized way, there would be no people living on garbage. Now is the time for the government to work on making a plan on how to use the budget in the coming years. Special sums from the budget has to be allotted for investment to create as many jobs as posse sible for people in the Region," Nasraddin concluded.
Page 1 and 2: From the Heart of Kurdistan Region
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Erbil protests Tammo's assassination - Kurdish Globe

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