auis blog

I chose to take my photo in Washington D.C. in front of the KRG representation office. I am a senior Mechanical Engineering student at AUIS. I travelled to the United States to participate in an exchange program by the U.S. State Department called SUSI, Study of US Institutes. Ours was a five week program hosted by Temple University and Dialogue Institute.  The program was on Religious Pluralism and Democracy in the United States. This program was one of the best experiences, if not the best, I have had in my life so far. The program included many lectures, activities, and site visits to different religious, cultural and governmental places. The aim of the program was to expose us, twenty student leaders from Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon, to American democracy and the religiously pluralistic communities in the country. During the five week program, we lived in Temple University's campus in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the first three and a half weeks. We spent three days in New York and visited different states including Georgia, North and South Carolinas, and Washington D.C. We also got a glimpse of other states like New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia by driving through them. I want to tell my community, including AUIS, that I will be working very hard to share what I have learned during this program with them. I will put as much time and energy as I can into projects and educational programs and activities in hope for a better Kurdistan, a better Middle East and a better world. Through this message, I want to ask my people, my university, AUIS, especially, to aid and support us in the activities we have planned for the future. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you all. Peace and Love,  Hastiar Sheikhani  

AUIS started as just an idea. After eight years, this vision is much more than partially realized: AUIS is a maturing organization on an amazing campus with successful graduates around the country and the world. When I arrived in 2010 to work for the administration, AUIS was still in early maturing phase, located on our original, temporary campus of portable cabins. University revolved around a few key people and functions – few systems were in place. Since my arrival, each day, each year, the university has worked to improve itself, to propel itself forward despite challenges and uncertainties. We have had a singular goal, really: improve. This drive for improvement is, in my opinion, the core value of AUIS.  AUIS drives improvement in a few different ways: educational progress within our students, organizational improvements over time, intercultural progress within the American and foreign faculty and, finally, a wide sort of social progress made within the higher education system of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The liberal arts education experience of AUIS allows students to grow and learn as individuals. My greatest joy at AUIS is to see the progress that students make in their lives during their university experience: improving their English, learning about complicated, modern skills in labs and on computers, taking on new internships and jobs, starting new club. Every day, students put in work, driving themselves forward to a better, more educated life. This level of progress is clear in all students, but especially cases like Peshawa or Mahdi, cases that started in cities like Halabja or Rania and are now successful on the international job market. AUIS has also improved as an organization. Starting an totally unprecedented university in Iraq is a challenge – an environment like Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq is constantly shifting and changing. Planning is not always easy, new challenges arise regularly that the administration cannot control. But, despite, the university has pushed ahead with creative ideas, new plans, new efforts. Gradually, over time, AUIS has learned how to better attract students, how to better manage its internal systems like registration, how to better manage it resources. As the organization progresses, the students, faculty and staff all benefit. AUIS also helps Americans and other ex-pats improve our understanding of Kurdistan and Iraq. Coming into AUIS, most of us have very little nuanced understanding of Sulaimani, the KRG or Iraq – maybe we have read books or watched CNN, but there is often a lack of depth to our insights. Every day, we encounter cultural and social differences. However, AUIS allows us to work side-by-side with our Iraqi colleagues and students. Because of this open, inclusive spirit, foreigners like myself make progress in understanding the world. Finally, and importantly, AUIS is helping to improve the higher education system of the Kurdistan Region. AUIS leads by example. We do not simply “copy and paste” the same programs and curriculum as other universities in the country. We are not driven by profit, we are entirely non-profit. We try to use the most modern, open teaching techniques possible. We intentionally blaze a new path, introducing new ideas and techniques into the Kurdistan Region for others to see. We force others to be better. On a personal level, it is been a great honor and responsibility to help AUIS grow. I have learned a lot in my time – a lot about universities, about Sulaimani, about Kurdistan, about life… Thanks to AUIS, I have improved as well.

Four years ago when I graduated from high school, I applied to many universities in Iraq and abroad. I remember being so hesitant about deciding where to go. I also wanted to experience living away from home in a different city and making new friends other than knowing my family’s friends in Erbil. After some weeks, I remember receiving a text from AUIS saying I was accepted. It was late at night, and I ran to my dad excitedly with the news. It was obvious by then that my choice would be AUIS, and I have never regretted that. At AUIS, I did not only learn about international studies theories, Plato’s Republic, economics, world history, physics or journalism; I also had the chance to practice them through internships and activities on campus. AUIS strikes a good balance between theory and practice. AUIS is truly unique in a sense there is always so much going on at campus. There is always an interesting guest lecture, an event organized by a student club, a debate, a match, and all of these helped me grow and opened up so many doors. My best times at AUIS were spent taking part in the activities by the student clubs, especially the AUIS student newspaper,Voice. I enjoyed the bittersweet moments and the teamwork while publishing the newspaper.  I learned to network and make connections at AUIS. My internship experiences during the last four years with the Iraq Oil Report publication, General Consulate of the Republic of Turkey in Erbil, Development Iraq, International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Institute of Regional & International Studies (IRIS) were arranged through AUIS. You always find an AUIS staff member, professor, administrator, or alumnus ready to help - whether it is for a class or a job you need to find, or a personal problem. It was at AUIS that I learned how to give to others, without expecting to receive anything back, especially through volunteer work. And I am proud to say that AUIS taught me the true meaning of citizenship and how to engage with my society. At the same time, just like any other American liberal arts institution, it prepared me to be a global citizen where I can understand the complexity of issues in the world as well.    It was also because of the education I received in AUIS that I could go to the oldest graduate school of international relations in the United States.  Today as I sit in the class, I can make arguments and contribute to the discussions just like any other graduate student. AUIS prepared me well in those four years for graduate school in the United States because of its liberal arts style education. Are you an AUIS alumnus? Do you want to share your share your AUIS journey too? Send it to [email protected] along with one or more good resolution photos. It shouldn’t be more than 500 words, and the email message should be clearly labeled ‘AUIS Alumni Stories’. We would love to hear from you!