The TIGRIS Project -Transfer of Good Practices & Reinforcement of Internationalisation Strategies in Kurdistan - is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. Funding for this project will be close to €1 million, and the programme will run for three years between 2017 to 2020.
Given that higher education plays a vital role in economic and social development by producing high quality human recourses, the project aims, amongst other things, to modernise the higher education system in Kurdistan through policy reform. With the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research onboard, expectations are high that, by the successful completion of the project, national legislation will be created and implemented which facilitate the accreditation of joint and double degrees, but also foster management structures and services in a way that brings Kurdistan's HEIs closer to their European partners.
Coordinated by the German Georg-Augustus-Universitat Gottingen, the TIGRIS Project is composed of 10 Higher Education Institutes (HEI) from the autonomous region of Kurdistan and four European partners, as well as two associate partners. The Kurdish partners are: The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies and Scientific Research, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani Poly-technic University, University of Raparin, Halabja University, University of Charmo, Duhok Ploy-technic University, Erbil Poly-technic University, and Salahadin University. The European Partners include Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Masaryk University, University of Groningen, and EHE Consult Prague. Each of the Coimbra Group and the Compostela Group will act as non-beneficiary partners assisting the consortium to enhance the quality of work and disseminating project activities at EU level.
The coordinator Geroge-Augustus-Universitat Gottingen housed the official Kick-Off Meeting of the project in the city of Gottingen, Germany, November 9th-10th. Delegates from all the partners attended, and after two days of fruitful discussions and meetings, the wheels are now set in motion to start practical work on the project's six Work Packages. The Kick-Off Meeting allowed the partner institutions to get to know each other and to exchange ideas about the implementation of the project. Raparin University's Assist. Prof. Dr. Mofaq Khalid Ibrahim, president of the university, and Araz Mohammed Ismail, Director of International Relations, attended the meeting and briefly presented the university.
Several partners are responsible for monitoring the implementation of each and every Work Packages as indicated in the project proposal. To ensure that the overall project activities are achieved, a management structure is established including the coordinator, in this case Gottingen University, as well as a TIGRIS Steering Committee, composed of one local coordinator from each partner institution.