Tennessee colleges are playing a key role rebuilding the higher education system in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Administrators from Belmont University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee Tech have recently returned from training with their counterparts in war-torn region.
Claude Pressnell is advising the Kurdish government in establishing a new accreditation body. He’s president of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association. Pressnell says by having a say in the standards used by these Iraqi institutions, it makes Tennessee colleges more likely to form bonds with them in the future.
“If they adopt similar standards of quality, then it creates this zone of mutual trust that they can transfer students and faculty back and forth and they trust the quality that’s there.”
Belmont professors have helped develop curriculum for pharmacy. Meharry has contributed its expertise in dental education. And Tennessee Tech is working with civil engineering.
Appalachian State University is leading the project which is funded by a State Department grant.
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