Baghdad University
BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY
Administrative unit, dating from 1957, which centralized ten of the twelve autonomous colleges in Iraq.
In Baghdad, the first institutions of modern higher education were the College of Law and the Higher Teachers' Training School. By the time steps for unification were taken, schools of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, engineering, agriculture, commerce, arts and sciences, and veterinary science had been added. The Shariʿa College (of Islamic law) was incorporated into the university in 1960.
In 1992, there were twelve colleges and seven higher institutes under the Baghdad University administration, and the colleges in Basra and Mosul originally attached to Baghdad have developed into separate universities. Student enrollment in 1985 was 44,307, with 1,346 engaged in postgraduate studies. Iraq has been ranked second to Egypt in the region for producing university graduates in the sciences; it does, however, lose many trained scientists through emigration.
John J. Donohue