For the purpose of getting an overview of the process of Quality Assurance, a delegation from UNESCO and the KRG-UNESCO Coordinator for Education Affairs visited Koya University. On Thursday 18/2/2016, a delegation from UNESCO, including Ms. Rebbeca Valmoria, the UNESCO Monitoring and Evaluation Director and Mr. Khalid Khoshnaw, KRG-UNESCO Coordinator visited Koya University and met with the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Director of Quality Assurance at the Faculty of Engineering.
The Purpose of the visit
Mr. Ribwar Kirmanj, a lecturer and the Quality Assurance Coordinator at the Faculty of Engineering, who was present at the meeting, stated, "The main purpose of the visit was to see how the process of Quality Assurance was going at the Faculty of Engineering in particular and at Koya University in general." He also said, "The members of the delegation were impressed by the Koya University's high level in the National Ranking of the KRG universities.
With regard to the delegation's feedback, in particular Ms. Valmoria's feedback, Mr. Ribwar mentioned, "They were very much impressed by the hard efforts of the management and teaching staff of Koya University in undertaking their responsibilities. They were pleased to seer our course modules which they found excellent, such as the (ProMax Simulation) program studied at the Department of Chemical Engineering and which will possibly be also extended to the Department of Oil next year, because the courses that are studied at Koya University are not studied at the other universities of Kurdistan Region nor at the Iraqi universities.
The education programs of the universities should be work oriented
"Ms. Valmoria's suggested, we keep in contact with some Japanese universities for getting funds and conducting joint projects," added Mr. Ribwar.
The delegation's opinion about the education programs in general, as Mr. Ribwar stated is "At present, the education programs of universities should be work oriented. However, some universities give some courses which may not be of benefit; therefore, engineers and graduates look for courses which can help them find jobs at the companies like the (ProMax) which can be used for designing and optimization in the field of oil and gas. Hence, universities should plan their programs according to market needs."
Mr. Ribwar K. Abdul-Rahman is assistant lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering. He is specialized in natural gas. He has 26 published researches and two books.
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About their visit, Ms. Valmoria says, "Our purpose is to review and improve the Quality Assurance system. We also want to conduct a joint project with the Faculty of Engineering of Koya University." Concerning their opinion of Koya University, she said, "It is really a fascinating university. When you first enter the university, the beautiful green environment gives you a feeling of serenity and peace. As far as the system of knowledge transfer is concerned, they found the system appropriate. About Koya University's ranking, Ms. Valmoria says, "Koya University well deserves the level it obtained in the National Ranking of the KRG universities. I hope it will continue its efforts to pass this leading role to the community and its future students in order to have a proper university, a proper education program and a proper future."
Finally she says, "Koya University is an effective and successful university. It has a good education programme, expert staff and a Quality Assurance Directorate. It has also built academic relations with different universities and keeps a standard position with some international universities."
Ms. Rebecca Valmoria is a PhD holder in research and evaluation. Currently she is working as the Monitoring and Evaluation Director at UNESCO/Iraq.
