BAGHDAD (AP) — From afar, the sprawling complex of the newly inaugurated American University in Baghdad appears like a floating mirage. Government officials maintain that the American University in Baghdad, which opened this week, is critical to shoring up the country’s flailing state of higher education. “I feel more like a mayor of a big city than a university president,” said AUIB President Michael Mulnix in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, a day after the university officially opened its doors. All the money made via tuition goes back to the university, not to repay the family that started it.”AUIB is the first American-style university in federal Iraq. Most of the students have very basic English skills, not enough to meet the rigorous demands of the university, Mulnix said.

Source: Egypt Independent February 16, 2021 08:15 UTC