Dr. Sahar Basil M. Al-Qaisi the assistant professor at the department of architectural engineering and the director of the Heritage Conservation Research Program (HCRP) at Koya University was invited to speak about documenting Koya Historic Town experience in the international symposium on (Urban Struggles in the Arab Region: Exchanging Experiences and Methodologies) that is organized by the Public Works Studio in Beirut.
Dr. Al-Qaisi’s presentation entitled (Documentation of Koya Historic Town- Iraq) on 01 July 2020 was about the experience of documenting Koya old town heritage that has started with students through her both Urban Design project in the Architectural Design IV Class for the years (2012-2015), and Conservation and Rehabilitation Class since 2015 and how students work becomes a base for further professional architectural heritage survey for Koya old town which was initiated by the collaboration among Koya University, the Department of Antiquities Service in Koya and the team of the Archaeological Survey of Koya (ASK). Dr. Al-Qaisi also highlighted the current and expected future role of the new Heritage Conservation Research Program (HCRP) which is one of the Faculty of Engineering Research Center programs and includes a multidisciplinary engineering team aiming to protect the architectural heritage of the region.
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Koya University (KOU) is located in the city of Koya (Koy Sanjaq) which is 1.0 hr drive to the East of the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil (Arbil, Hewlér) in Kurdistan Region of F.R. Iraq. It is on the foothills of beautiful high mountain. Its campus has been carefully laid out to embrace the beautiful mountainous nature. . There are 4 Faculties and 2 Schools in KOU; Faculty of Engineering (FENG), Faculty of Science and Health (FSCH), Faculty of Education (FEDU), Faculty of Humanities and Social Silences (FHSS), Shcool of Physical Education (SPHE) and School of Medicine (SMED). Also, there are two research centers; Genome Center and Malai Gawra Center. Moreover, at KOU there is an English Language Center (BELC) at KOU has been opened with the sponsorship of IREX and American embassy in Baghdad as well as with the support of Spring International Language Center of The University of Arkansas. KOU has two Scientific Journals; ARO-The Scientific Journal of Koya University, which is indexed by Clarivate Analytics (ESCI), and Koya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (KUJHSS). KOU is a proactive member of Erasmus/ Marhaba Project and Erasmus+. KOU signed many Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with many International Universities, e.g., The University of Arkansas (June 2015). The Lulea University in Sweden (April 2014), The University of Nottingham in the UK, The University of Buckingham in the UK (Oct 2008), Belkin University in Turkey (Sep 2009) and The University of Greenwich in the UK.
