University of Baghdad
The University of Baghdad (UOB) (Arabic: جامعة بغداد, also known as Baghdad University) is a public research university in Baghdad, Iraq. It is the largest university in Iraq and the tenth largest in the Arab world.[2]
Not to be confused with Baghdad College of Economic Sciences University.History[edit]
The College of Islamic Sciences claims that it originated in 1067 A.D. as Abu-Haneefa.[3] However, the College of Law, the earliest of the modern institutions that were to become the first constituent Colleges (i.e. Faculties) of the University of Baghdad, was founded in 1908.[4]
The College of Engineering was established in 1921; the Higher Teachers Training College and the Lower College of Education in 1923, the College of Medicine in 1927, and the College of Pharmacy in 1936. In 1942, the first higher institution for girls, Queen Alia College, was established. In 1943, proposals for further new Colleges appeared, leading to the foundation of the College of Arts and the College of Science in 1949, and Abu Ghraib College of Agriculture in 1950.
The university building was commissioned by the Royal Government of Iraq in the late 1950s and is located on the banks of the Tigris River. Its buildings were designed by Walter Gropius, Louis McMillen, and Robert McMillan, of The Architects' Collaborative, and were made from 1959 to 1960. The architects master plan for a new university campus, included the Schools of Engineering, Science, and Liberal Arts, for a total of 6,800 students.
The campus was expanded in 1982 to accommodate 20,000 students. Architects Hisham N. Ashkouri and Robert Owen developed the academic spaces program for the entire campus.
Baghdad University suffered from the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation, with more than 90% of its students dropping out of some classes.
In September 2018, the university was listed in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, a yearly classification of the best 1,250 universities in the world, for the first time.[5]
Below is a list of the current and former presidents of the University:[6]