Modernising doctoral research supervision: Kurds leading the way

Since 2006, The University of Nottingham has worked with the Ministry of Higher Education and six public universities in the Kurdish region of Iraq to develop leadership and management expertise and in 2010, received DelPHE-Iraq (UK government) funding to develop research capabilities and effective collaboration at an international level, through a series of short professional development programmes. The specific focus was on modernising doctoral research supervision expertise among Iraqi academics and exploring models for future doctoral programmes and infrastructure within Iraq through:

• Promoting the development, modernisation and globalisation of approaches to doctoral research and supervision in Iraq; 
• Enhancing research capacity through the development of a cohort of academics with knowledge of, and ability to apply, contemporary research supervision methodologies to local practice; 
• Demonstrating and modeling a range of pedagogical practices in doctoral supervision and research methodologies through active and experiential learning approaches. 

The project enabled The University of Nottingham to further its collaboration in the Kurdish region, to support its own international development and pedagogical understanding through engagement with international partners, and support the objectives of the 2009 Kurdish Government’s Vision to the Future of Higher Education in Kurdistan

The project was outlined by Dr Christopher Hill, Director of the Graduate School inThe University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, at the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education recent Global Forum event held in Kuala Lumpur.