World universities ranked according their presence on the Web: On the foothill of the Béjhar mountain lay the green campus of Koya University in the city of Koya, which is 1.0 hr drive to the East of the regional capital Erbil (Arbil, Hewlér) in Kurdistan Region in. Iraq. Its campus has been carefully laid out to embrace the beautiful high mountainous nature. 

In memory of the 200th anniversary of Haji Qadri Koyi's birth, Koya University is organizing an international conference to honour this great poet. Not only Haji Qadri Koyi was a great poet of his time, but he was also one of the last great classical poets of the Kurdish literature. He has been able to embody the changes that have occurred in Kurdistan in the 19th century, especially in relation to the abolition of the system of monarchy and the emergence of national awareness. Through his poetry and position, Haji Qadir has been able to play a key role in the establishment and development of national awareness especially at the level of the elite.

Dr. Wali M. Hamad, the President of Koya University paid a one-week visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran where he visited some of the Iranian academic institutions. The purpose of the visit was establishing and enhancing academic cooperation and relations between Koya University and these academic institutions.

A delegation from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) visited Koya University being one of the main partner universities in the Erasmus Mundus, Marhaba Project. The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the institutional capacity of the University including its scientific infrastructure in terms of laboratories and research centers.

The year 2015 was  a good year of academic achievements for Koya University. During this year, Koya University was able to sign four Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with four well-known universities aiming at establishing academic cooperation and promoting higher education and scientific research. We also ranked amongst the 5 best university in Kurdistan Region.

e-Smart University – Koya University as an example, was the title of series of seminars presented by the Vice president for Scientific Affairs of Koya University and Higher Education Koya University to the Universities of Human Development, Salahaddin, Sulaimani, Raparin and Charmo, following the four seminars on e-Smart University presented to Koya University academic Staff, Dr. Dilan Majid Rostam, the Vice President for Scientific Affairs and Higher Education, held the same seminar for leadership and academic staff of the listed universities. 

In the National University Ranking (NUR) of Kurdistan Region in Iraq, Koya University was ranked as one of the among the five best universities of Kurdistan. Obtaining such a status has by no means been easy; it has been the result of sacrificing a lot of time and efforts, and the fruit of four successive years of continuous hard work for the sake of building an e-smart university and enhancing academic presence and visibility. 

Balen Dlawer Mirza is a researcher at the Workshop Unit in the Faculty of Engineering of Koya University. He has written a book entitled (Pesticide Residues in Kurdistan Food: Probable MRL Violations, and the Need for an Effective National Food Safety Systems to control Residus ), which will be published by the German Lambert Academic Publishing House. Concerning this, Balen says, "I have conducted my research at Greenwich University in Britain and it is the only research on food safety in Kurdistan. I have collected the data from some real portals of the European Countries.

Two Koya University researchers in the  Department of Chemical Engineering conducted a joint research with the British Teesside University. The research is entitled (The Best recovery for the Gaseous Liquids from Natural Gas with the Use of Turbux Spider), which will be published under the name of Koya University in a high- impact factor journal in the USA. One of the researchers explains the process of conducting the research, its importance and content to the Koya University Newsletter. 

After being awarded a one –year Erasmus Marhaba scholarship program, four students from Koya University are now studying at the University of Minho in Portugal. The students point out the significance of Marhaba Project and deem it an ideal opportunity to study in Europe. They also refer to the experience they have gained and say that they have successfully made use of the situation and consider it a golden opportunity to learn.